nukeswife Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 We've done the painted lady kits in the past but my daughter really, really wanted to try and hatch monarch butterflies. We had no milkweed in our yard, so I ordered a whole bunch from a great site (http://www.butterflybushes.com) and figured if it didn't attract monarchs for egg laying at least they would look pretty in the yard. We have so far found 10 caterpillars and the first 3 spun chrysalises about a week and a half ago. The first butterfly emerged today and was beautiful. My daughter is so proud of herself for maintaining the plants to attract the butterflies as well as keeping the rearing chamber (we had so many caterpillars I had to buy a new one as the old one was too small) clean and well stocked with fresh milkweed leaves for the "very hungry caterpillars" that she asked me to post pictures. She loves all animals and I'm proud that at the age of 10 she's taken full control of this project and is doing an awesome job. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I wondered when they were finally going to hatch :D I love monarchs -- they're so beautiful. Your kids must be thrilled! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 It's beautiful. She's done a great job. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
applethyme Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Great pictures! Thank you for sharing. My 5year old loved seeing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyinLA Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 My kids have always been big animal lovers as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbpaulie Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 My goal 3 summers ago was to find a monarch egg or caterpillar. I serached ALL summer. Take a walk.... look at the milkweeds. Go for a bike ride.... wait.... have to check the milkweed. May, June, July, August.... let me look in the backyard. OH, here are 4 of them. :001_smile: DUH! Since then I've fallen in love w/ these (don't care for other insects though). We had the luck of finiding 6 eggs this summer. We released them over the weekend. Isn't the gold on the chrysallis so beautiful? Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Gorgeous! I've always wanted to raise monarchs. We've done painted ladies, but not monarchs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsBasil Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Wonderful pictures, cool project! Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 Just wanted to post that our milkweed ended up providing us with 8 more caterpillars, sadly 2 of them got some sort of ick and died, but the other 6 have spun their chrysalises last week and we should have 6 more beautiful butterflies to release by next week. Even our neighbor kids have gotten in on the coolness here and I have a gang stopping by every day to see if there have been any new developments in the hatching chamber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 We've raised many here too. If you have milkweed access, it's pretty easy and fun! Nice work. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 We've raised many here too. If you have milkweed access, it's pretty easy and fun! Nice work. :001_smile: We don't have any milkweed near the house so I bought about 12 plants from the site I mentioned above. I put 8 in one of my earthbox garden boxes and then put 4 in our front flower bed. I was amazed at how quickly and easily it grew and how many caterpillars we found considering we never saw a single monarch anywhere near the plants. They must have all come and laid their eggs while we returned to WI for my dad's funeral. Our only issue has been the little yellow aphids and beetles that love the milkweed as well. Next year I have to try some other growing options to keep those from being so prevalent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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