Monarch release .....

Here's for all my friends who love their Monarchs ......

I have been releasing a LOT of Monarch Butterflies over the past 3 days. I have released, I believe about 46 of them so far. I have about 5 chrysalises left to go. Almost half (18) of them were from HD. The rest were born and raised in my backyard/cage! LOL

I released 14-18 a day these past 3 days. The fun part was releasing them in batches of 7-8. They kept emerging, so I had to move them into cages to dry because the hatchery just isn't big enough for that many at one time. Once they were dry, I'd sit them on my hand, open the screen door, and give them a little nudge to set them free!

Honestly, they are just so beautiful!

I could never become tired of raising them even if it is a hassle at times.

I doubt very many will hang around because there is no milkweed in my yard at the moment. All the bare milkweed stalks were cut back. The cats ate just about every leaf on almost 100 plants. (Though the new leaves are coming out on all the plants. But it will take a while to grow big enough to support another batch of Monarch cats.) They always hang around my yard for the first day after being released. And then they fly off to find more milkweed. Probably the most that will hang around will be 3. They are territorial for sure. There is one large male chasing all the ones I released. He thinks he OWNS my yard. LOL!

Anyway, here is a photo of the hatchery. I was removing them every morning. And then again in the afternoon and evening. They were eclosing all day long. This is a morning shot. I always had that many each morning because they often eclose at sunrise. And you can see in the photo that 2 were just newly eclosed and their wings weren't even expanded yet. My family actually got a kick out of seeing that many eclose at a time. Very cool to watch!

Edited to say:
This was my LAST large batch (photo taken yesterday. I figured I'd better get a shot before they were all gone!).


This message was edited Jan 1, 2007 8:37 AM

What a beautiful way to start the year Becky! Hope the coming year is fulll of butterflies and milkweed for you.

Maggie

Thanks, Maggie! Wishing the same for you!

How wonderful! Becky!!

That's is wonderful! What a delightful winter chore. They're so beautiful.

I didn't realiz e that butterflies were so territorial. How do they shoo the other ones away?

starlight - They will chase them in the air and bump them. And a male trying to mate with a female will try to knock her to the ground in flight. When it comes to their host plant, Monarch females will try to chase another female away from where she is setting up her egg laying territory. But they don't fight to the death or to harm, just to intimidate each other.

I don't know about other species of butterflies, but I do see the chasing during flight going on with all species I get in my yard.

It's fascinating to watch their interaction!

Beautiful Becky!! I never tire of them either, they're so amazing to watch.

Yeah Becky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You go girl. I didn't have but a few this year and released them a couple of weeks ago

Here's a photo of one of the Monarchs that just eclosed outside. It appears that as long as the chrysalis doesn't get wet it will survive. I have found so many black chrysalis hanging around the plants in my garden. It has been raining a lot here and I think the bacteria gets into the chrysalis and kills the forming butterfly. But all the chrysalis that are sheltered from the weather elements seem to make it okay. Unfortunately, the cats don't always choose a place that is dry to morph into a chrysalis.

Here's another one that I saw yesterday morning as I was scoping out the yard. It was under my decorative rolling garden wagon. I saw the wings fluttering which caught my attention to it's location. It's only about 6-8 inches from the ground!

And this ..... was a anole looking down from the roof of my house. Do you suppose he saw the eclosing Monarch on my soffit? First time I ever saw one looking down from my roof! Usually they don't go to the roof top, because they are easy food for birds. LOL!

Becky~ You need a diploma on your wall from I'm Prouda U!!


Love the pictures girl!!

Great stuff!!! I bet some of the pretty Monarchs I get are from you! I hardly ever see any cats in my yard, I guess the birds beat me to them.

Oh wow! Great photo, gardenpom! Yep! I've been sending all my winged beauties to the far corners of our two counties! LOL! ...... Ya never know!

Now if you could just talk that little hummer of yours to send one of his pals to my house, my yard would be complete! (hee,hee...)

Gardenpom!! What a great shot!!

I just release the LAST butterflies from the batch of chrysalis! This little male Monarch was small compared to any Monarch I have released over the years. I was chuckling when he emerged because he was so little. Almost like a "baby" Monarch butterfly. But he very eagerly flew off without a problem! Too cute! I guess they come in ALL sizes! :-)

Gotta love the rich color of brand new wings!! Very sweet Becky!

Deb - Oh yeah! He was a cutie for sure! I really love those Monarchs. Now I am raising another batch of Monarch cats! LOL I am hoping that the milkweed in my yard hurries up and grows more leaves! LOL

I have a really cute story for y'all ....

Went back to school this week (as you know) ..... the little girl in my class who just loves the Monarchs as much as I do came in her first day all smiles. Her dad was dropping her off and he told me that she got a gift she is very excited about. So I asked her what this gift was. She told me that she got a butterfly cage and a coupon to order some Painted Lady cats! She's soooo excited. She even asked her dad to bring the package in when he picked her up so she could bring it back to show me. We got to open it up and it is a small version of mine! Too cute! The only dilemma is that the cage is the very short version. We can't get milkweed in it because the plant is too tall. Though I'm sure we will figure out something. She loves those Monarch cats so much. We've never seen PL cats before, so her dad is actually excited himself to see them. So she will be bringing them in to show the class. :-) :-)

That's so cool Becky!! What a sweetiepie!! I adore the PLs!

Keep us posted!