The Latest Batch Begins To Emerge

Last Thursday, February 19th, we took the first 5 Monarchs from this latest batch up to my daughter's 1st grade elementary school class.  They were thrilled to see the butterflies.  Later that day, after lunch, they released them.  There were 3 females and 2 males.  Due to the cold temperatures and smaller supplies of milkweed, they were slightly smaller than average.

Additionally, one female Monarch emerged this morning in our mudroom.  She had fallen from her silk pad, so we tied some thread to her stem and hung her in the mudroom.  She emerged just fine this morning.  So, as of today, we have raised a grand total of 2,077 Monarchs!

There are 6 more chrysali' in the pavilion at school.  One or two of them are Queen butterflies.  We help them out too when we can.  We will give you an update after they emerge.  This year's 2014-2015 winter season has been unique in that we have not hit 32 degrees the whole winter.  The lowest we have gotten to is around 37.  So, we have had Monarchs hang around for the whole winter for the first time.  As the climate changes and warms, so do does their migratory behavior.  Hopefully the migration will not fall apart. 

I am hoping that these new butterflies will be able to head north with their fellow monarchs when they pass through this area between March 1st - 15th.  We will keep you posted.

In my next post, I will review a couple of different ways to propagate milkweed. 

Happy Monarching!


Caleb & Janae Warren
savethemonarch1@gmail.com