Video Links

Missing the #MonarchButterfly already?  Here are some links to video footage to get your "fix".

• Caterpillar eating butterfly weed milkweed.
• Caterpillar forming chrysalis.
• Butterfly emerging from the chrysalis.
• Butterfly drying its wings. 
• Male Butterfly on flowers.
• Butterfly playing with Koala Joey (from Symbio Wildlife Park)

Enjoy!

Talking About the Experience

I will be in St. Joseph, Missouri on Thursday, October 20, 2016 at the Missourians for Monarchs meeting to talk about my experiences raising #MonarchButterfly.

The meeting is at 6:30 at the Missouri Department of Conservation offices. 

Not going to be in St. Joseph?  Can't make the meeting?  Check out the PowerPoint.

Then join us again next year when the migration of the #MonarchButterfly returns to the Monarch Cafe.

Sterilization of Supplies

At the end of the season, cleaning and sterilisation of the supplies is important so bacteria is not left in the container to infect the caterpillars next year when the season starts.

It's recommended to wash your containers with a 5% bleach solution, run them through the dishwasher or expose them to 6 hours of UV radiation.

Given the  "black death" we fought at the end of the season this year we decided to go overboard to make sure it was all gone.

First I wiped every container down using Clorox wipes making sure I got all the webbing and any remaining splatters wiped off.  (I use paper towels at the bottom of the containers to catch the dripping off the emerging butterflies which cuts into the clean up afterwards).  Then I rinsed the container to make sure all the residue from cleaning was removed.

Then to make absolutely sure the containers don't  spread black death to next year's caterpillars, I  put them all out in the sun for UV exposure.  This has been the hard part because finding 6 hours of sun is not so easy this time of year.

Once they're done in the sun, I will stack the containers in a trash bag and store them in the attic until I need them next year.

Final Butterflies

Our last #MonarchButterfly of the year have emerged as large quantities of have migrated as far as Texas.

The five butterflies bring the Monarch Cafe total to 344 #MonarchButterfly for 2016.

It's been a good year to be a #MonarchButterfly at the Monarch Cafe.

We're going to be in the Saint Joseph MO area on October 20th to talk about raising #MonarchButterfly at the Missourians for Monarchs meeting. Come join us, 6:30 at the Conservation Department.

The Season is Wraping Up

 The season is wraping up as the weather is getting cooler.

So far the Monarch Cafe has successfully released 336 #MonarchButterfly.

We have 11 chrysalis left. The last of our caterpillars caught "black death" so when the butterflies emerge from the chrysalis the season is over at the Monarch Cafe.

All in all its been a banner year for us.

And to finish off the season, we will be in Saint Joseph, MO to speak at their #Missouri4Monarchs meeting on October 20th.  The topic is the experience of raising/rearing #MonarchButterfly.  If you're also going to be in the area come join us.

300

300 #MonarchButterfly have now emerged and flown away from the Monarch Cafe.

This is more than we ever imagined when we planted all the #milkweed last spring, hoping to increase our numbers over last year's 38.

Invite a #MonarchButterfly to lunch, plant #milkweed.

Sharing the Experience

This weekend the Monarch Cafe butterflies went on a road trip to visit my favorite preteens.

And my niece  (who's remaining anonymous) got a chance to help with the butterfly release.  Nothing like sharing the experience to get another generation hooked on building the #MonarchButterfly population.

We are now at 282 #MonarchButterfly released a few dozen chrysalis and a couple dozen caterpillars. (Unfortunately lately we've had a rash of unsuccessful emergences.)

200th Monarch

And so we've had a hectic #MonarchButterfly season this week and are now up to 235 #MonarchButterfly.  Pictured to the left is the 200th #MonarchButterfly to emerge from the Monarch Cafe this year.  He emerged yesterday, today we have had 35 more.

Where does this leave us? Around 100 chrysalis and approximately a dozen caterpillars.

29 Butterflies and 9 Inches of Rain

What happens when you pair a thunderstorm lasting all day and into the next morning producing around 9 inches of rain with 29 #MonarchButterfly emerging?
An impromptu aviary.

That's what happened yesterday.  So we cut an overgrown asparagus and tied it to the shower rod with netting across the front of the tub then we relocated the #MonarchButterfly from the habitats onto the asparagus.

Then today after it finally stopped raining we relocated them to a box and carried them outside where we released them to fly away.  Along with the 24 #MonarchButterfly that emerged today.

Wherr does that leave us? 151 butterflies released, a bunch of chrysalis and a few caterpillars.

98th Monarch Released

With the release of 14 #MonarchButterfly today, we have now successfully watched 98 #MonarchButterfly fly away from the Monarch Cafe.

Tomorrow we will cross over into the triple digit releases.

77th Butterfly

A picture of the 77th #MonarchButterfly released from the Monarch Cafe. She was released yesterday.  Today we've already released 1 and have 5 more drying their wings.  We could potentially have 2 more emerge today.

And for the update we have released 78 #MonarchButterfly so far, we have 5 butterflies drying their wings, 241 chrysalis, 4 caterpillars in the "j" formation and a few  dozen caterpillars with the smallest ones just recently hatched.

Releasing a Butterfly

When we release a #MonarchButterfly, typically a finger is placed into the container in the area between the butterfly's feet in the hopes it will climb on for easy removal from the habitat.

We do not try to pick the butterfly up using the wings as that can potentially mess up their ability to fly.  If we can't get the butterfly to climb on, we might grab their feet.  This usually irritates the butterfly causing them to frantically flap their wings.
Typically just placing the finger in the proximity of the butterfly's feet is enough to get him to climb on and then be able to lift the butterfly out of the habitat.

And for the update, we have released 64 #MonarchButterfly, have 218 chrysalis and still quite a few caterpillars (an updated count has not been do e recently).

And 4 Butterflies Make 61

Today  we released another four #MonarchButterfly.  This brings us to 61 butterflies so far this year.

At last count we had 115 chrysalis and at least that many caterpillars.

Transition

Gradually  more and more of our caterpillars are making the transition to the chrysalis.

We have now released 54 butterflies with three more drying their wings as I type.  At las count there were 84 chrysalis many caterpillars in the "j" formation and still possibly as many as 100 caterpillars still eating.

Not bad considering the success rate is typically noted as 5% of course that's "in the wild" and not our special Monarch Cafe habitat "hotels".

Rough Day

 It's been a rough day at the Monarch Cafe.  We got a taste of what we've been trying to avoid by getting the caterpillars inside as soon as possible.  Apparently a few caterpillars we overlooked were attacked by the tachinid fly (last year we lost close to half this way).  Losing 5 caterpillars as they were preparing to go into the chrysalis was traumatic.

The caterpillar pictured to the left was one of these.  The strings hanging down are how you recognize that the fly larvae have exited the caterpillar.

On a more positive note, we have now released 48 butterflies and have 63 chrysalis with several more caterpillars scoping out the roofs of their habitat.  And of course there's easily 100 more caterpillars still eating.

Hungry, Hungry Caterpillars

 The view from inside one of the habitats here at the Monarch Cafe.

Currently there are 9 habitats.  We have more caterpillars than we've been able to count. I would guess we've easily got 160 caterpillars ranging from 1/4 inch to full grown.  Keeping up with feeding them had become a full time job.

And for the update, we've released 46 butterflies, have 34 chrysalis, 5 caterpillars in the "j" formation in preparation for becoming chrysalis and all of the above mentioned caterpillars.

Watch out world, the Monarch Cafe is increasingly the #MonarchButterfly population.

New Territory

We have crossed into new territory. Our record had been releasing 38 butterflies. So far this year we have now released 44 butterflies.

If that's not noteworthy enough we also have 22 chrysalis, 112 counted caterpillars and at least a couple dozen still too small to count.

Talk about a lot of eating going on at the Monarch Cafe!

If You Grow It

I'm sure you remember the saying from the movies "If you build it, they will come". Well we discovered if you grow it (#milkweed), they (#MonarchButterfly) will come and lay their eggs.

Every day we go out to check on the plants or just to get cuttings to feed the caterpillars, we're finding a dozen or more newly hatched caterpillars.

As for our statistics, nothing has changed. Still 37 butterflies released 9 chrysalis, 20 stage 3 to stage 5 caterpillars, and uncounted dozens of stage 1 to stage 2 caterpillars. We have more habits on the way and should be able to attempt a count after they arrive and we start spreading the little caterpillars out into the new habitats.

Habitats

Due to the number of predators in the "wild" such as the tacid fly which killed nearly a third of last year's caterpillars, we bring the caterpillars inside and place them in large "gerbil habits".

The lid of the habitats have a piece of plastic canvas covering it.  The caterpillars are able to hang on and spin their chrysalis on the lid this way. Or we attach their branch of choice to the lid with twist ties after the chrysalis is formed.

Then when all the caterpillars have transitioned, the bottom is cleand out disposing of the leaves and paper towel is laid across it for easy cleanup of the fluids from the emerging butterflies.

If it appears some of the butterflies are going to emerge while there are still caterpillars in the bottom, the caterpillars are moved to a different habit.  There's a bacterial disease that could be passed on through the fluid, so you don't want caterpillars under an emerging butterfly.

Finally a quick update: we have released 37 butterflies, lost one in the chrysalis stage, 9 chrysalis, and dozens of caterpillars with new one hatching every day.

Flight of the Butterfly

And more butterflies...

After a brief break yesterday we are back to releasing #MonarchButterfly.

Today we had another 5 #MonarchButterfly emerge.  And while that was going on, we also had 5 caterpillars go into the chrysalis.

And the totals: we've now had 29 butterflies emerge.  This leaves 10 chrysalis plus the five new ones, 3 big caterpillars and approximately 17 baby caterpillars.

Weekend Butterflies

We released 3 more #MonarchButterfly this weekend, bring the total for this year up to 22.

This leaves us with 15 chrysalis plus the new one formed today. As well as 8 stage 4 and stage 5 caterpillars and 17 (if I found everyone) stage 1 caterpillars. We also have an unknown quantity of eggs throughout the cafe.

A Five Butterfly Day

Its a good thing the rain has moved past as today five new butterflies decided to emerge.
This brings our Monarch Cafe total to 21 butterflies released  (as soon as these are ready to fly) in 2016.

Butterflies Release Begins

Today started the butterfly release stage.

3 butterflies were placed outside on the Zinnias and then flew off.

This brings us to 16 butterflies released, 21 chrysalis, 7 caterpillars over a quarter inch long and an indeterminate number of eggs and newly hatched caterpillars.

Baby Caterpillars

Just as most of our caterpillars have moved to the chrysalis stage, a round of eggs has hatched.  Currently we have discovered 8 baby caterpillars.

So if you're wondering about the numbers, we have 22 chrysalis and 11 caterpillars.  

Mid to late this week, we expect to watch butterflies  emerging again. Which is of course the fun part.

Surprise

So I  was in the cafe checking on the progress of the eggs when I looked up and surprise there's an almost fully grown caterpillar I had apparently missed seeing for its entire life cycle.

And if that wasn't enough, I  found two more decent sized caterpillars. Though each of them were a bit smaller.

We did also have 5 eggs hatch that I found. And after the way the rest of my hunt went i wouldn't be at all surprised if there weren't a few more that we just haven't found yet.

So if you're wondering about numbers, we now have 11 chrysalis, 1 egg, and 19 caterpillars plus whatever is hidden in the cafe.

Stages of the Life Cycle

Currently its quite busy at the Monarch Cafe.  We have 14 caterpillars at several stages including the pre-chrysalis "J" hang shown to the left.

Down to the littlest one measuring in at about half an inch.  Most are an inch or less in length today.  Though  we do have a couple who are close to moving into the chrysalis.

Across the last few days we've also had 8 chrysalis form. So around the middle of next week we should once again be releasing butterflies.

As if all of this isn't enough excitement, we've also discovered five eggs. And considering their size and the fact they're laid on the under side of the leaves, there could be even more we haven't seen yet.  So things may not be slowing down any time soon.

Growing Caterpillars

Somehow in the flow of everyday life, many of the caterpillars from the broken branch have transitioned to stage 5 and the others are not far behind.  Before long we'll have fewer caterpillars at the cafe and several chrysalis again.

Caterpillars in the Blooms

Ranging in size from barely visible to the naked eye to a quarter inch long, we discovered 7 caterpillars in the buds of the Milkmaid milkweed today.  


The other day we discovered a stem broke off one of the plants and found a dozen caterpillars on it as well.  Most were a half inch long, but one was only an 1/8 inch.

If I managed to correctly count every one we found so far, we have 13 caterpillars in the 1/8 inch size or less and 11 at least half an inch long.   Apparently we missed seeing the full scope of the eggs and didn't realize how early we started getting them.

Of course this is just the beginning of the fall migration season....

Visiting Butterflies And Eggs

Wehave been seeing a #MonarchButterfly fly through on a regular basis.  There is no way of telling if its the same one or one of the ones we released earlier this month.

We have also seen a few eggs again.  It seems the #MonarchButterfly females flying through the cafe have decided the #milkweed in the cafe looks good enough for their babies to eat and laid their eggs on the under side of many of the leaves.  Notably most of the leaves with eggs are Milkmaid #milkweed. The picture was taken at 8 times zoom in order to see both the egg and its details.

Follow along as we participate in the beginnings of the fall #MonarchButterfly migration.

About The Monarch Cafe

The Monarch Cafe is an area in my yard with 4 Milkmaid Milkweed plants, 4 Hello Yellow Milkweed Plants, 4 Cinderella Milkweed Plants, 4 Common Milkweed plants a dozen or so Orange flowered Milkweed plants a few milkweed vines and 1 swamp milkweed.

The Cafe was designed to attract the #MonarchButterfly in all its stages.

Last year with just the orange flowered milkweed, we released 38 #Monarch butterflies.  This year we added the expansion with 17 new milkweed plants.

This year we have found most of our eggs and caterpillars on the Milkmaid milkweed plants, but several of the other varieties have also had eggs on them.  So far this year we have released 13 #Monarch butterflies.

I have been posting pictures on Facebook and Flickr the last couple years and noticed this year the growing popularity of people looking at my pictures and thinking "I could do that".  That is the sentiment I want to inspire.

Last winter a storm in Mexico killed half the #MonarchButterfly population which was already dramatically down from when I "raised" #Monarchs as a kid.  Now there are groups like "Missouri for Monarch" on a campaign to keep the #MonarchButterfly from becoming extinct.

 The sign (in the picture) was a gift from a friend who came up with the name "Monarch Cafe" for the garden, not that the #MonarchButterfly needed the sign to find the garden.

In the posts to come, I will be detailing the #Monarch activity "at the Monarch Cafe".