Raising Book Resources
Raising Hope for the 2020 Migration- Raise the Migration Results
Raise The Migration is an annual North American challenge to raise monarch butterflies to release for fallโs annual monarch migration. The time has come to share your 2020 experience and raise it forwardโฆ
The raising season is coming to an end, so weโd love to hear how many butterflies you released for fallโs annual 2020 monarch migrationโฆand more importantly, what lessons youโve learned through this amazing raising experience?
If youโve still got some raising to do, raise on! But please post in the comment box at the bottom of this page after youโve released your last butterfly.
Every year, I start Raise The Migration in early August, but monarchs raised at that time arenโt actually migration generation butterfliesโฆtheyโre actually the parents to that amazing generation of travelers.
Thereโs no way to tell whether butterflies will mate or migrate, but one telltale sign of a migration generation butterfly is its size, which is dependent on how much the caterpillar eats. The first super-sized caterpillars start to form chrysalides around the first week of September in our northern regionโฆ
In the garden, you can tell non-migratory butterflies by their worn out wings. Non-migratory males are also more aggressive, chasing off potential competition while seeking out female companionshipโฆmigratory monarchs are in sexual diapause and only interested in stocking up on nectar for the long journey ahead.
So how did our Raise The Migration Monarchs fare this season and what lessons did we learn raising forward?
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If youโre interested in a step-by-step guide digital guide with free updates (before each monarch season begins in spring) please check out the monarch raising guide by clicking this butterfly photo:
For anyone who purchases the guide (or any other item) from Monarch Butterfly Life, you will be invited to our closed facebook group where you can discuss raising monarchs with other raisers and post your photos.
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Here are Raise the Migration results from the past seven seasons:
2019- 81% survival rate
2018- 93% survival rate
2017- 100% survival rate
2016- 96% survial rate
2015- 96% survival rate
2014- 90% survival rate
2013- 100% survival rate
As you can see from the results, this raising system is consistently producing healthy monarchs to help support the struggling monarch population.
Raise The Migration 2020 Results
I am counting our 2020 migration generation as all butterflies that eclosed September 1st and after.
Caterpillar Escapes
Since using food container hatcheries for eggs and baby caterpillars, this has helped us to easily keep track of the wee cats until they can be placed in the larger mesh cages. We have not lost a caterpillar for years...
Unexplained Caterpillar Deaths
None to report in 2020
Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites?
There were no caterpillar disease issues to report in 2020. Check out a pre and post molt of one caterpillar graduating from instar 3 to instar 4:
Accidental Deaths?
There have been two accidental deaths this year...seems fitting for 2020. ๐
1. This was an odd fluke that happened in an egg hatchery. There was one container with two eggs that looked like they might have fungus issues from the leaves I found them on.
After monitoring, I thought one of the eggs had succumbed to a rust-like fungus that was growing around it. Little did I know, the caterpillar had hatched and crawled under the paper towel that lined the hatchery....there was even a fresh milkweed leaf under the fungusy leaf piece.
This has never happened before so I was shocked to find the dead baby cat as I cleared out the hatchery.
2. On a cold morning in the 3-season porch (low was 40ยฐ F), I picked up the floral tube/racks (with milkweed and caterpillars) and walked it into the kitchen without using the boot tray. Two of the cold, lethargic caterpillars fell to the floor. I rescued one...and stepped on the other. ๐
Chrysalis Problems
Chrysalis formation was perfect this season. I conducted 6 removing/rehanging experiments this year: 3 chrysalides hung up with pins, 2 hung up on a microfiber cloth, and 1 taped to the floor:
All 6 butterflies eclosed with no issues and the butterflies were released to join the 2020 monarch migration. The last male emerged Sunday October 11th, and was released on Monday October 12th:
Butterfly Eclosures
All butterflies emerged from their monarch chrysalises without issue.
Final Results
2 accidental deaths
0 disease or parasite issues
0 unexplained death
4 healthy males
5 healthy females
82% survival rate
Lessons Learned?
Of the two caterpillar accidents that occurred this season, one was a fluke that will likely never happen again.
However, the 'stepping' accident could have been easily avoided if I would have just followed my own advice for caterpillar safety. If moving caterpillars outside of the cage, place them on a boot tray so they will never fall on the floor.
I also learned that keeping chrysalides in the 3 season porch at night (during the fall) is a bad idea for our northern region. Cool night time temps slowed down metamorphosis by at least a week, meaning the excellent window I had to release butterflies in warm weather, quickly shrunk to just a few days.
The chrysalises get plenty of exposure to natural lighting and temperatures during the day through open windows. If these monarchs would have been left to fend for themselves outside, their wintry fate would have been sealed...๐ฅถ
Also, my preferred way of rehanging chrysalides is pinning the silk to the top of the cage. Really though, all 3 methods work well, so do what you're most comfortable with when you need to rehang a chrysalis.
August 2020 Migration Memory
And now, hereโs the part Iโm most excited aboutโฆhearing about all the valuable lessons you learned raising monarchs over the past few weeks!
Share Your Results?!
Please share your results below by letting us know how many monarchs you released to help boost the struggling monarch populationโฆremember to include your location.
More importantly, please share the most valuable lesson(s) you learned about raising monarch butterflies, that you believe can help others raising forward.
Thank you for helping to Raise the Migration in 2020
348 comments
My season started out great with my first monarch caterpillar making a chrysalis in early July. I raised 45 happy butterflies. I gave 10 cats to my daughter-in-law along with a cage and what to do. Hers were also successful. Then Iโm not sure what happened but I lost my next ten to something. It was heartbreaking. They were deformed chrysalis and then they would turn a brown color. I know several got stung by t-flys but not sure on the others. I still have 8 left and only one of them looks bad. Weโll see. Overall it was a pretty successful year but when you loose any itโs so sad. Thanks for all you do.
This was my first year raising Monarchs here in Chicago. This year I raised 72 Eastern Black Swallowtails (released 60 and 12 will overwinter). Back in August the Monarchs began to frequent daily our large perennial garden that has a pretty large Asclepias incarnata, Asclepias syriaca plants and tons of nectar flowers (Butterfly weed, Giant Zinnia, Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Lantana etc.). I noticed a Monarch female laying eggs on both Milkweed plants and I found a total of 10 eggs. I decided that this was the year to give raising them a try. I started out small based on my food supply to ensure I had enough to raise them on. I then watched many online Monarch raising videos, joined several Facebook Monarch raising groups and took all the precautionary steps (washing eggs and milkweed leaves in bleach solution to prevent OE) and much to my amasement 8/10 eggs hatched and survived (6 females and 2 males). 2 of the eggs didnโt hatch. The 8 that I raised were released last week (Second week of September) to help with the migration. The timing of my egg collection was perfect with the migration time table and I was so glad I gave raising them a try and I cannot wait until next year. The Monarchs are so much more magical and beautiful when they eclose and I was able to video many of them eclosing. I was amazed at how big the butterflies are compared to the small chrysalides they emerge from. It truly was an awesome experience and now I am hooked and will be adding more milkweed to our garden for next year.
Lessons I learned:
Monarch cats a very different that Eastern Black Swallowtail Cats when it comes to controlling where they pupate. With EBS I use a โgizmoโ. Next year when raising Monarchs, I am going to give the clear plastic/cup with lid method a try and to come up with a system like I did with raising EBS so that I can feel comfortable enough raising larger numbers of Monarchs.
I am also going to cut my Milkweed plants back mid season to stimulate more leaf growth (for later season food supply) and to get cuttings to start more plants.
This was my first year raising Monarchs here in Chicago. This year I raised 72 Eastern Black Swallowtails (released 60 and 12 will overwinter). Back in August the Monarchs began to frequent daily our large perennial garden that has a pretty large Asclepias incarnata, Asclepias syriaca plants and tons of nectar flowers (Butterfly weed, Giant Zinnia, Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Lantana etc.). I noticed a Monarch female laying eggs on both Milkweed plants and I found a total of 10 eggs. I decided that this was the year to give raising them a try. I started out small based on my food supply to ensure I had enough to raise them on. I then watched many online Monarch raising videos, joined several Facebook Monarch raising groups and took all the precautionary steps (washing eggs and milkweed leaves in bleach solution to prevent OE) and much to my amasement 8/10 eggs hatched and survived. 2 of the eggs didnโt hatch. The 8 that I raised were released last week (Second week of September) to help with the migration. The timing of my egg collection was perfect with the migration time table and I was so glad I gave raising them a try and I cannot wait until next year. The Monarchs are so much more magical and beautiful when they eclose and I was able to video many of them eclosing. I was amazed at how big the butterflies are compared to the small chrysalides they emerge from. It truly was an awesome experience and now I am hooked and will be adding more milkweed to our garden for next year.
This ends my third season of raising monarchs, and second year of raising and successful release of a black swallowtail. Side note: I am thrilled to see the butterfly diversity in my yard increase each year as I add more flowering plants and diversity of species! I will share three unique things that occurred in my raising this year:
1) One cat had what I assume was mandible malformation. It could not eat. It appeared to be trying. I made a โbaby foodโ with pulverized milkweed leaf and water. It did seem to have interest in that for a few minutes and there was one poop after that. I was hopeful if I could feed milkweed mush until the next molt, maybe whatever was deformed would correct itself. Nope. Death followed two days later. RIP, Freddie.
2) I caused my first accidental death. As I was moving milkweed, I apparently nicked the head of a baby cat. It did not die right away and I thought maybe it would be ok. It was not. I felt terrible. RIP, Ruby :(
3) I found a late season chrysalis outside that totally took me by surprise: high in my grapevine! The cat who went to hang under a grape leaf had to get there by traversing at least 12 horizontal feet through a flower bed and then vertically another 6-7 feet. Color me impressed! I cut the leaf from the vine and brought it inside in my โinfirmary and isolationโ pupation box. After a few days, tachnid flies emerged. heavy sigh I knew it was likely, but I was so hopeful that Muscari would eclose healthy and ready to head south.
I guess my themes for this yearโs season have been: Worry, Awe, and Hope.
The saying โBuild it and they will comeโ applies to Monarchs as well! I started raising Monarchs in Arkansas in 2018 and had a very successful year; 2019 was a disappointment but I kept going. 2020 I moved to the Huntsville, AL area and according to Monarch Watch, isnโt well-traveled by the butterflies. I still was determined to plant several types of milkweed and nectar varieties. Thinking they would find my garden next year, I was surprised and excited to see 5 caterpillars eating away on my milkweed! Donโt give up! They will find your garden! Keep planting and raising!!