Raising Monarch butterflies

We had a very productive last summer. We raised and released 48 Monarch butterflies. We took in 50 eggs but only 48 made it to butterflies. The whole process was much more time consuming than beekeeping. To prevent disease, we changed Milkweed leaves and cleaned the nursery tanks daily. Once the last butterfly fluffed it wings out in the garden, a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction kicked in. Even if just one butterfly made it through the winter to produce a new generation is better than none.

We started with bringing in Monarch eggs. Searching under Common Milkweed leaves for them and cutting them off the plant.

A cream colored egg is the size of a pinhead

I cut leaves to small pieces, with the egg attached. Put them together in a small plastic container and covered it with a clear lid with a few holes in it. I checked daily for caterpillar hatchlings

Egg that’s just about to hatch will have a darker color at the tip of the egg

We only bring the egg in because the caterpillar stage may have some parasitic insect egg injected in them. Some wasps are known for this.

I transport a newly hatched caterpillar to a nursery tank. It’s very tiny.

At the caterpillar stage, a caterpillar will eat until it reach a point that it needs to molt. It will stop eating and not move until it molts. Then it will resume eating again until it grows big, ready for the chrysalis stage.

Some of the caterpillars we raised. I preferred cutting a branch than an individual leaf; much easier to manage.

Once a caterpillar is ready to pupate, it will walk around looking for a place to attached itself and turn to chrysalis. Most of our caterpillars attached themselves to the top screen cover but some attached under leaves. One escape artist managed to squeeze out from the tank, walked up the bay window and attached itself to the window sill near the ceiling.

Once they find a place, they spin a silk anchor patch, attach themselves and hang down in a ‘J’ shape hanging there for a day before turning into a chrysalis.

First chrysalis stage is in green. It will stay at the chrysalis stage for around 11-14 days before it becomes a butterfly.

24 hours before it become a butterfly, the chrysalis turns blue gray

Then translucent just before the butterfly emerges

Hatched and ready to be transported outside. Wings will typically take a couple hours to dry enough to use.

Transported outside on a plant under the roof so they are protected from wind, rain and birds. They can fly off at their own pace, after their wings stiffen up enough to use.

Hopefully some of their children will come by this summer and we can help them raise their young again.

We also put together a short video of the whole process Enjoy here: https://youtu.be/HP3hu4m93nQ

**One touch of nature makes the whole world kin**…William Shakespeare

5 thoughts on “Raising Monarch butterflies”

Congratulations! I watched the video then reblogged this post and shared it on Facebook. So great you have taken the initiative to help the Monarchs. We have very few here until very late in the summer. I have never seen any eggs. I need to work on planting more Milkweeds in areas they won’t be grazed on or mowed down. Thanks for sharing.