How To Easily Raise up to 100+ Healthy             Monarch Butterflies Naturally

                   by www.CraigtheButterflyman.com

Welcome to our necessary cause and movement !

     IT’S BEST TO READ AND WATCH THE VIDEOS IN THIS E-BOOK ON A LAPTOP, DESKTOP, or BIG SCREEN MONITOR

Please watch this 5 minute introductory video as Mary and Craig talk about what they do with monarch and queen butterflies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfn9wuvVaDw 

Click the Link to go to our fast growing 10,000+ member  Facebook group. You may have to copy and paste link.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies

THE TOP SCIENTISTS HAVE ASK U. S. FISHAND WILDLIFE TO ALLOW AMERICANS TO RAISE UP TO 100 HEALTHY MONARCHS PER SEASON FOR CONSERVATION AND EDUCATION EVEN IF THE MONARCH IS LISTED AS THREATENED AND/ OR ENDANGERED AS EXPLAINED IN THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENT.  

The monarch butterfly is NOT listed as threatened and/or endangered by U S Fish and Wildlife. Citizens are allowed to raise and release as many monarchs as they want to at this time.

We suggest captive rearing one healthy generation of 2-300 monarchs, in June, in one 2’ x 2’ x 3’ netted pop up hatchery all at once,  We will explain exactly how below.

Craig and other scientists ask you to adhere to the following described method of easily raising and releasing healthy monarchs during their summer migration in North America.

Dr. David James is a top monarch scientist and researcher. He literally created a monarch migration in the Northwest U. S. A. populated with mass captive reared monarchs. Read the story about this groundbreaking study linked here:  https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27559&fbclid=IwAR0csdx47Ux83zYHEIgST1P8t_NbY-NpUKmOG0ughlsBJqO231QZpOupcrU

BELOW IS THE LINK TO THE ACTUAL PUBLISHED STUDY. YOU MAY HAVE TO JOIN THE LEPIDOPTERIST SOCIETY Here:  https://www.lepsoc.org/content/membership

TO VIEW THE STUDY IF YOU CAN’T OPEN IT  here:   https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRv-7uk3FLzIA5rQTAQBfmMAJACEToiPD6jNWm4aCqrvXfiFyJlZ1UsG5SUjrEFsoFMIKfNZYbA9f2A/pub

www.CraigTheButterflyman.com has been recognized by “RESOLUTION” unanimously by TEXAS LEGISLATORS,ON THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FLOOR, AS SHOWN IN IN THE DOCUMENT BELOW:  

REARING MONARCHS, USING THIS METHOD, IS RESEARCH BEING PARTLY CONDUCTED BY www.CraigTheButterflyman.com  Please read the following document.

 This book is FREE ! You’re welcome to share it everywhere.

WE NEED AS MANY CITIZENS AS POSSIBLE, IN THE MIDWEST AND NORTHEAST INVOLVED IN THIS RESEARCH PROJECT !

     Just copy this link and share it everywhere you like !!!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1CLikD75auFtbf1Z-1UQ1aBCnqdZfOCC3xgtSupieA/edit?fbclid=IwAR3_VIl44fGSa4xX-PRjpaGqRz9L9oECdFmIYupyt6KszmN71dvTx1uwZS0

When I’m on my phone, I “share” this free book with my contacts I’ve recently texted or called. Everyone loves Butterflies and would like to know how they could see more of them.

PLEASE COPY THE LINK TO THIS E-BOOK IN A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FIND IT EASILY. Here’s the link: You

 may need to copy and paste the link into your browser https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1CLikD75auFtbf1Z-1UQ1aBCnqdZfOCC3xgtSupieA/edit?fbclid=IwAR3_VIl44fGSa4xX-PRjpaGqRz9L9oECdFmIYupyt6KszmN71dvTx1uwZS0

I WILL BE UPDATING THIS BOOK OCCASIONALLY AND YOUR COPY WILL ALSO AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE SO PLEASE CHECK IT INTERMITTENTLY  ! LEADERS OF MONARCH GROUPS;

IT’S OK IF YOU PIN THIS LINK AND THIS LIVING E-BOOK, IN THE FORM OF A POST, TO THE TOP OF YOUR MONARCH GROUP TIMELINE, and/or THE TOP OF YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE, and/or THE TOP OF YOUR MONARCH and/or  POLLINATOR PLANT GROUP OR PAGE. Please copy and paste the link:

THIS IS A RESEARCH PROJECT CONDUCTED, IN PART, BY www.CRAIGTHEBUTTERFLYMAN.com

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1CLikD75auFtbf1Z-1UQ1aBCnqdZfOCC3xgtSupieA/edit?fbclid=IwAR3_VIl44fGSa4xX-PRjpaGqRz9L9oECdFmIYupyt6KszmN71dvTx1uwZS0

I WILL BE OCCASIONALLY ADDING TO THIS BOOK WITH INDISPUTABLE FACTS AND EVIDENCE ABOUT MONARCHS, HOW TO CONSERVE AND INCREASE THEIR POPULATION AND MIGRATION, AND THE PLANTS THEY THRIVE ON, INCLUDING A TABLE OF CONTENTS SO YOU’LL BE ABLE TO FIND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS EASILY. YOU CAN GO TO OUR FAST GROWING 10,000+ member Facebook group and post your pictures, video, and questions with them and 1 or more of our 350+ moderators will discuss any challenges you have rearing monarchs or monarch conservation questions in general.  Most questions will be answered below if you keep reading https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies

THE BASICS OF EASILY REARING HEALTHY MONARCHS CORRECTLY WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE IN THIS BOOK IN THE SHORTEST FORM POSSIBLE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED IN OUR CAUSE AND MOVEMENT.

WHAT IS A GOOD ESTIMATE HOW MANY MONARCH’S WILL BE ADDED TO THE MONARCH MIGRATION WITH OUR RESEARCH PROGRAM THIS YEAR EXPLAINED NEXT ???

We teach the easiest and most natural way to raise monarch butterflies if you have a good size 2' x 2' x 3' netted monarch butterfly hatchery. $20

1) WE COULD DECLARE IT A NATIONAL HOLIDAY !!!  CATCH A MONARCH DAY !!!   

2) If 10,000 citizen scientists in the summer breeding grounds (Midwest and Northeast) had a 2' x 2' x 3' butterfly hatchery pop up near a window, in their house, and introduced a (gravid) pregnant female by mid June, and you added fresh trimmed and rinsed milkweed stems, and, of course, the monarchs raised themselves by eating the mikweed, and each netted pop up hatchery produced 300 monarchs for release a month later, and half that’s 300 monarchs x 10,000 participants in the study = 3 million monarchs divided by 2 = because 1.5 million are females and ready to lay eggs in the wild.

and each female monarch laid 400 eggs (600,000,000 total eggs laid in the wild) 5% survived to be adults and half of them grew up to be female, 1/2 female = 30 million female monarchs x 400 eggs each, laid in the wild, that would be 12,000,000,000 eggs, that's 12 billion eggs laid in the wild, and only 5% , 600 MILLION of those monarchs  GREW UP IN THE WILD”, HEADED TO AND MADE IT TO THE MOUNTAINS IN MEXICO,  that’s 6 times the monarchs that made it last year.  600 million monarchs in Mexico this fall !!!

10,000 pop up butterfly hatcheries. What if it is only 3000 hatcheries !  

What if we have 3000 participants for our study.

Let's say 300 monarchs came out of each hatchery by the middle of or end of July, that's 900,000 monarchs of which half are female 450,000, and each one of them lay 400 eggs,that’s 180,000,000 million eggs. half female monarchs 90,000,000 x 400 eggs laid = 36 billion x 5% survival rate is 1.8 billion that grew up in the wild going to Mexico and 5% made it, that’s 90,000,000 that wouldn’t have been in Mexico without our help.

We will be collecting information concerning the participants' rearing results by reply to email once they have ordered their google: netted monarch pop up habitat hatchery ($7-25), Google: capture net($3-5), and Google: 60x mini-microscope($3-5). We will have a list of research questions for the participants to answer as their observation continues through the process of rearing and other results of their rearing experience.

IT IS IMPORTANT I LIST SOME OF MY AND OTHERS ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN THE SCIENCE OF ‘MONARCHY’ IN THIS BOOK, TO ADD CREDIBILITY TO WHAT YOU AND I TEACH.

Below is a link to a symposium held in 2022 featuring a variety of monarch conservationists and their “opinions' ' as to what can be done to help increase the monarch population. Most of us scientists agree we need to continue to plant the plants monarchs and other pollinators thrive on. These plants will help feed the monarchs we help survive predators. “Rearing monarchs” is mentioned with positive statistics during this 3 hour plus discussion at the 2 hour and 45 minute point. Follow along as Gail Morris describes how more monarchs that were captive reared and tagged were found than those that weren’t https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb3nL2vNU6Eas shown below.

You’re welcome to email me with any questions you have about the content of this book and the proven method I teach, as long as you have read and studied it all, viewed the videos and pictures contained here, and intend on raising monarchs the scientist approved way I teach, using the simple sanitation and disinfecting procedures.

I agree, and government sponsored studies show and support, The main reason the “monarch migration” and population is dangerously low is the invasive imported fire ant. Fire ants have taken over the Southern States and all of California and are marching up the east coast. They mainly attack the first three stages of the monarch's development, and sometimes in-flight adults allowing very few monarchs to migrate to the summer breeding grounds in the Midwest and Northeast where fire ants can’t survive the freezing temperatures. Although there are scientists working to neutralize them, it appears it’s going to be a long time before we find enough “fire ant predators'' to get them under control. There’s lots on line about it. Just Google them: INVASIVE IMPORTED FIRE ANTS. The 2 year $300,000 study conducted by UTSA, linked below, on page 12, describes a total of 87% of monarchs in the larvae or chrysalis stage in Texas are killed and/or consumed by red invasive imported fire ants: file:///media/fuse/drivefs-eb9fdaeec0aff753f7daad2c99656acb/root/Monarch_Butterfly.UTSA.pdf

WE MUST BRING THE MONARCHS INDOORS TO PROTECT THE FIRST THREE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT FROM THIS INVASIVE PREDATOR !!!  MONARCHS THAT ARE RELEASED IN THE ADULT, IN-FLIGHT STAGE ARE ABLE TO “FLY AWAY” FROM THESE VICIOUS PREDATORS !!!

IT’S BEST TO ORDER YOUR INEXPENSIVE SUPPLIES TODAY. MANY AMERICANS ARE JOINING OUR CAUSE AND MOVEMENT TO SAVE THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY  MIGRATION AND SUPPLIERS WILL RUN SHORT AS THE SEASON APPROACHES.

1. Please send me an email with a picture of  the materials I ask you to use.( selfie with your setup is OK)  
2.  First order the netted butterfly hatchery pop up ($7-30) Google: butterfly cages. Get one about  14” x 14” x 24” ($7-15) or better: 24” x 24” x 36”($20-30) HERE’S A LINK TO A $7 HATCHERY copy and paste link https://www.temu.com/1pc-insect-and-butterfly-habitat-cage-enclosure-clear-professional-net-terrarium-for-raising-bug-critter-foldable-insect-net-g-601099511920098.html?top_gallery_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.kwcdn.com%2Fproduct%2F1d14c6c1096%2F62fc1fc2-af00-4d10-b1fd-f61c0d9e5af1_1700x1700.jpeg&spec_gallery_id=4170657&refer_page_sn=10009&refer_source=10022&freesia_scene=2&search_key=pop%20up%20butterfly%20cages&refer_page_el_sn=200049&_x_ads_channel=google&_x_ads_sub_channel=shopping&_x_login_type=Google&_x_vst_scene=adg&_x_ns_sku_id=17592188853005&_x_ads_account=5532219654&_x_ads_set=19651611002&_x_ads_id=144488069703&_x_ads_creative_id=647243349822&_x_ns_source=g&_x_ns_gclid=CjwKCAiAlp2fBhBPEiwA2Q10D1zZIjjQBBRGIjAEASbKSAKF5FB1pp8-93mLrLqZNFAdR4KW7oaHthoCrW0QAvD_BwE&_x_ns_placement=&_x_ns_match_type=&_x_ns_ad_position=&_x_ns_product_id=17592188853005&_x_ns_wbraid=CjkKCQiAlp2fBhC7ARIoABj-oOkp3oKksqW_myl8JrUcjtKHVwiFswVEDrS9aKkTdEDjZQjUZxoCOMQ&_x_ns_gbraid=0AAAAAo4mICGtrHuekf1VhYHYEDhuIzkBj&_x_ns_targetid=pla-297194214843&_x_sessn_id=085ym2raj2&refer_page_name=search_result&refer_page_id=10009_1676183957958_zd7ikccatl
3. BELOW is the LARGE  2’ x 2’ x 3’ hatchery ($20-30) big enough to raise 300 healthy  monarchs all at the same time.
4. 

5. A capture net Google “butterfly net” Any net will work starting at ($1-4). THE FEMALE IS THE ONE YOU’RE GOING TO CATCH.  THIS IS A LINK TO PICTURES OF A female MONARCH BUTTERFLY LAYING EGGS, you’ll see her laying an egg on a milkweed plant and that’s when you will have the best chance of catching her :  copy and paste this link if necessary https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://stlwildones.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/monarch-laying-eggs.jpg&imgrefurl=https://stlwildones.org/monarch-butterfly-mystery/monarch-laying-eggs/&h=768&w=858&tbnid=L4Hi3PVdPRoEGM&tbnh=212&tbnw=237&usg=AI4_-kTU56K_4e4ve_buTke1vq0UKR6MxA&vet=1&docid=hxse9eQV9u2KFM

6. 1-3 empty 1 gallon milk jugs or other vase-like containers with an opening in the top no larger than 2”,
7. Google:  60x mini-Microscope (3-$5), please read this and watch the short video here, you will be checking your pregnant female monarch to make sure she is healthy: http://butterfly-lady.com/category/butterflies/

8. Minimum 1 gallon of household bleach is a very important, compulsory disinfectant ($5)
9. a roll of paper towels,
10. clear scotch tape, please read this and watch the short video. You will be checking your female monarch to make sure she is healthy Here: http://butterfly-lady.com/category/butterflies/
11.  Something that will cut a 3/4” milkweed stem

12. white piece of paper, how to check for OE Linked Here: http://butterfly-lady.com/category/butterflies/

13. A table or something to set your netted pop up hatchery on near a window
14. ant baits to put on the floor around where your hatchery is sitting on a table ($3)

You’re welcome to send me a picture of your set up even if you don’t have a question.

15. Please remember, there’s a reason for everything in the above list that will be explained later
16. IF YOU BUY EVERYTHING YOU DON’T ALREADY HAVE ON THE LIST, THE TOTAL IS $20-30  for the small hatchery setup
17. IT’S BEST, IF POSSIBLE, TO CONDUCT THIS STUDY BY CATCHING A LIVE FEMALE MONARCH YOU SEE LAYING EGGS ON MILKWEED PLANTS IN APRIL, MAY OR EARLY JUNE !
18. IF you you have to collect milkweed stems with eggs on them instead of catching a female monarch, you'll need 5 total, 5 gallon buckets to bleach and rinse the stems with eggs on them ($40 total supplies) HERE’s the link to a $7 small hatchery;
19.  Copy and paste to your browser if necessary  https://www.temu.com/1pc-insect-and-butterfly-habitat-cage-enclosure-clear-professional-net-terrarium-for-raising-bug-critter-foldable-insect-net-g-601099511920098.html?top_gallery_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.kwcdn.com%2Fproduct%2F1d14c6c1096%2F62fc1fc2-af00-4d10-b1fd-f61c0d9e5af1_1700x1700.jpeg&spec_gallery_id=4170657&refer_page_sn=10009&refer_source=10022&freesia_scene=2&search_key=pop%20up%20butterfly%20cages&refer_page_el_sn=200049&_x_ads_channel=google&_x_ads_sub_channel=shopping&_x_login_type=Google&_x_vst_scene=adg&_x_ns_sku_id=17592188853005&_x_ads_account=5532219654&_x_ads_set=19651611002&_x_ads_id=144488069703&_x_ads_creative_id=647243349822&_x_ns_source=g&_x_ns_gclid=CjwKCAiAlp2fBhBPEiwA2Q10D1zZIjjQBBRGIjAEASbKSAKF5FB1pp8-93mLrLqZNFAdR4KW7oaHthoCrW0QAvD_BwE&_x_ns_placement=&_x_ns_match_type=&_x_ns_ad_position=&_x_ns_product_id=17592188853005&_x_ns_wbraid=CjkKCQiAlp2fBhC7ARIoABj-oOkp3oKksqW_myl8JrUcjtKHVwiFswVEDrS9aKkTdEDjZQjUZxoCOMQ&_x_ns_gbraid=0AAAAAo4mICGtrHuekf1VhYHYEDhuIzkBj&_x_ns_targetid=pla-297194214843&_x_sessn_id=085ym2raj2&refer_page_name=search_result&refer_page_id=10009_1676183957958_zd7ikccatl

     FOR THIS RESEARCH AND STUDY, You can order a pregnant female monarch from a breeder instead of catching one.  How much it costs will depend on where you live and how much postage is, and the price of the butterfly. Of course, if you just collect stems with eggs on them and raise a few you won’t have the ordered butterfly expense although that will not help increase the monarch population very much. BE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR POP UP HATCHERY SET UP BY THE FIRST WEEK IN JUNE WITH THE GALLON MILK JUG FULL OF well rinsed STEMS OF “common or tropical” MILKWEED IN THE DISINFECTED HATCHERY BEFORE YOU ORDER A PREGNANT MONARCH !

20.  DISINFECT YOUR HATCHERY BY FOLDING IT INTO A CIRCLE AND COMPLETELY SUBMERGING IT IN A MIX OF 1  PART (1 gallon) HOUSEHOLD BLEACH AND 4 PARTS(4 gallons) WATER IN A 5 GALLON BUCKET  FOR 24 HOURS AND RINSING IT THOROUGHLY, OPENING IT AND LETTING IT DRY.
21. 
22. You can Order a GRAVID (pregnant) FEMALE monarch, for this research project, from one of these breeders linked below. Call them “now” and see if they will send you 1 or 2 the first week of June, after you have your hatchery set up and milkweed stems in it. If you don’t want to try, or haven’t been able to catch, an egg laying monarch in the wild.  They will overnight ship her. lt’s at least $30 less expensive if you catch your own monarch as she's laying eggs in the wild. https://afbeducation.org/afb-certified-butterfly-farmers-2023/  As in the picture below, always rinse your stems with leaves on them thoroughly, and be sure you trim the stems like you would a flower before you immediately immerse the stem in the gallon milk jug or vase like container with no larger than a 2” hole in the top. Pull the leaves off that would be in the water in the container or they will rot and stink.
23. THE LINK BELOW THIS TEXT IS TO A VIDEO THAT SHOWS ME TRACKING A FEMALE MONARCH WHILE SHE”S LAYING EGGS ON STANDS OF COMMON MILKWEED IN BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT. MONARCHS LAY AROUND 400 eggs. THIS VIDEO WAS TAKEN IN AUGUST AND WE ONLY WANT TO CATCH A MONARCH THE FIRST WEEK AND LATEST 2nd WEEK OF JUNE to rear our one generation of monarchs for the season. THE “common” MILKWEED WILL BE 2 FEET TALL AND MONARCHS WILL BE LAYING EGGS ALL OVER THE MIDWEST AND SOME IN THE NORTHEAST THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF JUNE. COPY AND PASTE LINK: This video will take you into a playlist of videos demonstrating how I raised monarchs when I was in a “research” stage of my career. I’ve modified, mostly my sanitizing procedures, and I’m now asking citizen scientists to only raise one generation of monarchs in June in the Midwest and Northeast.  stagehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdwwD5A__3Q&list=PL2cGMUe0hrn9y5io68rzycOoQccH1iPcH&index=5
25. This is another butterfly breeding Association where you can buy a gravid (pregnant) butterfly: https://www.internationalbutterflybreeders.org/where-to-buy-butterflies-eggs-caterpillars-and-chrysalises/
26. YOU Need to have your hatchery with milkweed stems that have been rinsed well, trimmed at the bottom just before you put them in the gallon milk jug full of water to keep them fresh.
27. Put them in a one gallon milk jug in the hatchery before you order your butterfly. Pull off any leaves that would be under water. Common milkweed grows everywhere in the Midwest and Northeast and is 2’ tall by the first of June, about the time monarchs arrive in the area and start laying eggs on milkweed plants.
28.  Remember, rinse the milkweed stems thoroughly and trim milkweed stems at the bottom just a second before you put them in the gallon milk jug full of water, so they will take up water and stay healthy. Pull any leaves off that would be in the water
30. Your butterfly will come overnight. If you order more than one they will probably be $10-12 for each additional butterfly,

   If you have friends close to where you live who you think would like to rear monarchs, for this study and research, you can order more pregnant butterflies or share your butterfly to lay 100 eggs in their pop up too. They lay up to 400 eggs.

31. If you have people you want to introduce to rearing monarchs, you might get an extra pop up for them and cut some extra milkweed stems for their pop up or take them with you when you go looking for milkweed and/or to catch a monarch laying eggs in the wild. Remember, always trim milkweed stems at the bottom just a second before you put them in the gallon milk jug full of water, so they will take up water and stay healthy for a long time.
32. THE LINK BELOW THIS TEXT IS TO A VIDEO THAT SHOWS ME TRACKING A FEMALE MONARCH WHILE SHE”S LAYING EGGS ON STANDS OF COMMON MILKWEED IN BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT. THIS VIDEO WAS TAKEN IN AUGUST AND WE ONLY WANT TO CATCH A MONARCH THE FIRST 1-3 WEEKS OF JUNE to rear our one generation of monarchs for the season. THE MILKWEED WILL BE 2 FEET TALL AND MONARCHS WILL BE LAYING EGGS ALL OVER THE MIDWEST AND SOME IN THE NORTHEAST THE FIRST 3 WEEKS OF JUNE. COPY AND PASTE LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdwwD5A__3Q&list=PL2cGMUe0hrn9y5io68rzycOoQccH1iPcH&index=5
34. It’s fun to get others involved and see them get into rearing monarchs. It’s a beautiful hobby with purpose !
35. REMEMBER, FINDING AND HARVESTING MILKWEED STEMS IN A TIMELY MANNER IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS IN MASS REARING 100+ MONARCHS FOR RELEASE. COMMON MILKWEED IS 2 FOOT TALL IN THE MIDWEST AND NORTHEAST BY JUNE 1st. YOU WILL NEED TO LEARN WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE BEFORE THEN AND STAKE OUT A PLACE WHERE YOU WILL CUT STEMS TO SET UP YOUR HATCHERY BY PUTING 4-6 stems in your one gallon MILK JUG, AND THEN PUT IT IN YOUR HATCHERY. THIS IS WHAT COMMON MILKWEED  LOOKS LIKE WHEN IT’S MATURE. IT WON’T HAVE THE BLOOMS ON IT AND IT WON’T BE AS TALL. PULL A LEAF OFF OF THE PLANT AND IF WHITE SAP COMES OUT IT’S COMMON MILKWEED. https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_assy.pdf
36. THE MILKWEED PLANTS WILL RECOVER THEIR STEMS AND WILL START TO IMMEDIATELY RECOVERING LEAVES SO WILD MONARCHS CAN KEEP LAYING EGGS ON THAT PLANT.
37.  ONCE YOUR EGGS HATCH AND YOUR CATERPILLARS START CONSUMING IT YOU WILL NEED MORE AND MORE RINSED TRIMMED STEMS UNTIL ALL YOUR CATERPILLARS ARE HANGING FROM THE TOP OF THE HATCHERY IN CHRYSALIS FORM.
38. TAKE A FIVE GALLON BUCKET WITH 6 INCHES OF WATER IN IT AND GO OUT LOOKING FOR STEMS. CUT THE STEMS CLOSE TO THE GROUND AND IMMEDIATELY PUT THE STEM IN THE BUCKET OF WATER SO THE STEM DOES NOT “HEAL” AND WILL STILL TAKE UP WATER AND STAY FRESH. STUFF FIFTEEN STEMS IN A 5 GALLON  BUCKET AND BE SURE ALL THE ENDS OF THE STEMS ARE UNDER WATER. LEAVE IT IN THE BUCKET AND DON”T TAKE IT OUT UNTIL YOU’RE GOING TO RINSE IT THOROUGHLY, AND PUT IT IN THE ONE GALLON MILK JUG IN THE POP QUICKLY SO THE STEM DOESN”T HEAL UP AND STAYS FRESH.

39. AS PART OF OUR RESEARCH AND THIS STUDY CraigTheButterflyman@gmail.com    , You’re welcome to send me a picture of your setup and/or post the picture on our group page even if you don’t ask a question, as long as your setup conforms with what I teach, and if you’re going to guarantee your own success, your hatchery must be indoors so your house is the first barrier against predators and your netted pop up hatchery is the second barrier.
40. The light coming in the window your setup is near will give your monarchs the “ques” they need to develop properly. The eggs the butterflies you release “lay” will develop outdoors in the wild just like the rest of the butterflies we didn’t protect indoors.
41. YOU MUST COMMIT TO THE SIMPLE SANITARY PROCEDURES I TEACH ON THE FOLLOWING PAGES SO OUR MONARCH BUTTERFLY POPULATION AND MIGRATION REMAINS HEALTHY AND STRONG.

It has been determined by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the spectacular monarch butterfly migration occurring yearly involving the United States, Canada, and Mexico is threatened and endangered although it hasn’t been listed under the endangered species act.  Myself and other top conservationists, experts, and educators ask that citizens rear up to 100 monarchs every year for conservation, research, and/or education, even if the monarch is listed, as explained in the following document:

 IF JUST A FEW THOUSAND OF US RAISE AND RELEASE 100 MONARCHS IN JUNE, IN THE MIDWEST AND NORTHEAST, IT WILL ADD 100S OF MILLIONS OF MONARCHS TO THE MIGRATION THIS FALL THROUGH MULTIPLICATION OVER THE NEXT FEW GENERATIONS THIS SUMMER !!!

I'm a well known monarch butterfly scientist, conservationist, educator, and the founder and administrator of our fast growing 10,000 + member international monarch butterfly association, with 25+ local chapters. If you go to our group website and click on the banner at the top of any page of the website, where it tells you how many members are in our association, you will go This E Book where on the first page is a link to our to our 10,000+ member group and its timeline where our 350+ moderators wait to answer your questions: www.HowToRaiseMonarchButterflies.com

This is the link to our fast growing 10,000+ member “How to Raise Monarch Butterflies” Facebook Association with 25+ local chapters in North America. We have 350+ educated moderators to answer your questions you post on the group timeline with your pictures and videos. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies

As described in the document above, we have the support from many individuals and organizations in the scientific community. We're involved in individually rearing large numbers of healthy monarch butterflies for release into the wild to further breed and increase the monarch butterfly population and the monarch migration to and from Mexico every season. We also promote monarch butterfly and  pollinator native plant restoration throughout North America.  Please let me introduce Mary and myself with this brief minidocumentary video by PBS/KLRU in Austin, Texas (5 Minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfn9wuvVaDw&t=3s

You should know one of the most respected U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists, Dr Chuck Sexton, and Rob Iski observed, tested, and approved the method I developed to raise the monarch migration when I took it to their laboratory on the 25,000 acre U. S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge; Balcones Canyonlands Northwest of Austin,Texas. https://www.fws.gov/refuge/balcones-canyonlands

 My Method demonstrates how to safely mass captive rear healthy monarchs for release during their yearly migration.The scientist observed the method, they added well rinsed tropical milkweed plants to the hatchery, the monarchs emerged from their chrysalis, let their wings dry for 24 hours, and they tagged and released them to migrate to Mexico.

You will see 2 pictures below I took back in September of 2006 with my homemade hatchery in the window of the lab at Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Refuge. Like thousands of others, I've continued to have fun and success rearing monarchs using this method ever since, with, of course, fancier accommodations for our monarchs these days.

WE NEED A FEW THOUSAND MORE CITIZEN SCIENTIST LIKE YOU, TO RAISE YOUR 100 MONARCHS TO GET THE NUMBERS HIGH ENOUGH YOU”LL SEE MONARCHS FLYING AROUND BRIGHTENING YOUR DAY, ALL DAY, ALL SUMMER LONG, ALL OVER AMERICA !  PLEASE ADHERE TO THIS PROCEDURE SO WE CAN USE THE INFORMATION YOU GATHER AND SEND TO US TO INCREASE THE MONARCH POPULATION AND MIGRATION !!!

IT’S Easy Peezy !!!

The (gravid) female monarch I caught and that laid eggs on that tropical milkweed,in that original hand made hatchery, was tested, clean and not infected with OE when she went into that hatchery back in 2006. The tropical milkweed that was in pots was rinsed well, was clean of insecticides and healthy, when it went into that hatchery, and the hatchery was clean and sanitized when the milkweed and monarch were introduced to the hatchery; well rinsed milkweed plants were changed out as the leaves were stripped, 40 larvae crawled to the top and went into chrysalis stage. In about 10 days all 40 emerged as healthy adult butterflies, their wings dried for 24 hours while in the hatchery, they were checked for OE as demonstrated below, and tagged before they were released 24 hours later by our scientists to migrate to Mexico. A CLEAN FINE SCREENED HATCHERY CLOSE TO A WINDOW IN A LAB , CLEAN WILD CAUGHT GRAVID (pregnant) FEMALE, CLEAN TROPICAL MILKWEED PLANTS, GO IN THE HATCHERY, AND  CLEAN HEALTHY MONARCHS COME OUT !!!

If you like videos, I put together a playlist of a number of short videos, the first being the longest at 13 minutes, that will give you an in depth, but easy to understand, description of how to raise monarch butterflies to raise the migration numbers.

These videos were done in Branford, Ct. and on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut during the “research” phase of my learning how and when to raise healthy monarchs about 4 years ago.

As you read through this book, I will be teaching you my “perfected” method I now teach. A few things have changed since then, mostly in the disinfecting and sanitation phases of rearing and when to raise them that were keeping me from always raising lots of perfectly healthy and strong monarchs all at the same time, in one easy method and generation. The method I teach today adds many monarchs to the migration generation that goes to Mexico.

Some of you will still be raising any number of monarch eggs on milkweed stems you found in the wild and rinsing the stems with the eggs on them and putting them in your hatchery in a one gallon milkweed jug and that’s OK. Some people don’t want to catch a female monarch laying eggs in the wild, or order a (gravid) pregnant female from a breeder.

1) Whether you get the larger or smaller netted pop up hatchery 14” x 14” x 24” for $7-15 or the better and bigger hatchery 24” x 24” x 36” for $20-30, Fold it up into a circle, and if it’s been used before, it needs to be disinfected by completely submerging it in 1 part household bleach, (1 gallon) and 4 parts (4 gallons) of water in a 5 gallon bucket for 24 hours, removed , rinsed thoroughly, and then opened and allowed to dry.

2) You should only start to raise one generation of monarchs during each season, starting from eggs, anytime in June or at the latest don’t start after the first week of July. This allows the clean, healthy monarchs you release to breed and develop in the wild that produces even stronger and healthier monarchs to go on and breed and lay another generation of eggs in the wild in the Midwest and Northeast. When those monarchs develop they will actually be bigger and stronger and are called the “Migrate to Mexico” generation that migrates to Mexico, they get to party together in the mountains of Mexico all winter as tourists watch them, until spring when they breed and return to Texas and lay their eggs for the next season.

3) You will want to preferably use an empty, rinsed, one gallon milk jug, or anything with a 2” or smaller hole in the top so when you put your just trimmed milkweed stems in it they will plug up the hole in the top so caterpillars won’t fall in the water and drown. Sometimes the caterpillars aren’t very smart and they find out they can’t swim ;)

4) You will also have to google and buy a 60x mini-microscope under $5 to check the monarch you catch or order from a breeder that you will be putting in your disinfected hatchery to lay eggs. Learn how at this link  http://butterfly-lady.com/category/butterflies/

Check 7 of the 100 plus monarchs, you’re ready to release, for OE. If any of those 7 are infected, you will need to check the rest of them and put the infected ones in the freezer then the trash because if you release them the rearing you did will be canceled out by the infected monarchs because they will infect their eggs and thus other monarchs in the migration.

 Here’s a link to a great educational fun playlist of rearing monarch videos by Craig, your favorite butterfly man ;) !!    You may need to copy and paste the link.   After you’ve watched these videos come back and keep reading, I have more videos and pictures you’ll like.  I’ve changed my rearing procedure since then involving more sanitary and disinfecting. You’re learning my completed rearing procedures in this book. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2cGMUe0hrn9y5io68rzycOoQccH1iPcH

LEARN ABOUT THE MONARCH CATERPILLARS FAVORITE FOOD; TROPICAL MILKWEED below

This is a recent article where top monarch scientists and conservationists discuss the benefits of tropical milkweed. You may have to copy and paste this link in your browser. https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/index.cfm?tagname=Chip%20Taylor    THIS IS TROPICAL MILKWEED

 Of course, if you don’t “grow your own” tropical milkweed you will have to go to the local nursery and pay $10 for a one gallon plant

FOR YOU WHO LIVE IN THE MIDWEST AND NORTHEAST A DIFFERENT SPECIES GROWS, “COMMON MILKWEED” GROWS ALMOST EVERYWHERE AND IT’S ALREADY 2 FEET HIGH, READY TO HARVEST THE STEMS, JUNE 1st OR JUST COVER THE PLANTS WITH A PROTECTIVE NET AND INTRODUCE A PREGNANT MONARCH OR 2 as explained below .

THIS IS COMMON MILKWEED BELOW. PULL A LEAF OFF AND IF WHITE SAP RUNS OUT, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PLANT.

Here’s a way you can grow your own tropical milkweed with a small investment and sell or give some to your friends and neighbors so they can raise some monarchs too: copy and paste if it doesn’t open: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonar chButterflies/permalink/2875569362691713

Of course, you can put your 1 gallon pots of tropical milkweed in your hatchery after you rinse the leaves thoroughly and add a female monarch to lay eggs on it. Just Change out the pots with clean rinsed pots of milkweed as the others are stripped of their leaves. Rinse the stripped plants very well with a 10-1 household bleach/water mix in a spray bottle, then rinse with water, and put them in the sun to recover and sprout new leaves in a month. If you buy pots of tropical, be sure to ask if it has “insecticide” on it !!! HOPEFULLY THEY WILL GIVE YOU A KNOWLEDGEABLE ANSWER. READ THE LABEL OR TAG AND SEE IF IT TELLS YOU>

G) During the time I've lived in the Northeast and taught rearing monarchs at Yale University and planting the plants they thrive on, I've caught a wild monarch early in the month of June, put her in a clean disinfected pop up hatchery, and used rinsed clean common milkweed stems in a vase-like container

THE LINK BELOW THIS TEXT IS TO A VIDEO THAT SHOWS ME TRACKING A FEMALE MONARCH WHILE SHE”S LAYING EGGS ON STANDS OF COMMON MILKWEED IN BRANFORD, CONNECTICUT. THIS VIDEO WAS TAKEN IN AUGUST AND WE ONLY WANT TO CATCH A MONARCH THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF JUNE. THE MILKWEED WILL BE 2 FEET TALL AND MONARCHS WILL BE LAYING EGGS ALL OVER THE MIDWEST AND SOME IN THE NORTHEAST THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF JUNE. COPY AND PASTE LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdwwD5A__3Q&list=PL2cGMUe0hrn9y5io68rzycOoQccH1iPcH&index=5

or 1 gallon milk jug and traded the stripped milkweed stems out with well rinsed, trimmed at the bottom, to keep them fresh, milkweed stems, and as many as 300 caterpillars have gone to the top of a 24" 24" x 36" netted pop up hatchery placed near a window, and when they eclosed (emerged),THIS HATCHERY ABOVE SHOULD HAVE A TRIPLE LAYER OF PAPER TOWELS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE HATCHERY. THE PAPER TOWELS SHOULD BE CHANGED EVERY COUPLE DAYS !!!   I let the monarchs dry for 24 hours without feeding them, checked dozens of them for OE with a 60x mini-microscope under $5 on google and follow the procedure linked here http://butterfly-lady.com/category/butterflies/  and watch the short video at the bottom of the Butterfly-lady’s “checking for OE” page, I usually couldn't find any OE, so I released them all outside either in a garden center or somewhere where there were nectar flowers.

Invariably people would ask, "Where did you get all of those beautiful butterflies ? I just tell them  " I raised them, would you like to raise them too ? Then I just refer them to my website, Facebook group and this document and watch them enter it on their phone. Sometimes I just copy and paste this document into their browser on their phone.

www.HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies.com

YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW:   I found, If I used a monarch from that first generation I had just raised to produce more eggs and raise them, I found that OE would show up on most of those butterflies when they were adults. I tried this a few years and the original generation I raised in June would always be clean of OE and ensuing generations I raised would be infected. You will find here, and on my website, that I teach to raise one generation of around 100 monarchs per season and not to start rearing from eggs after around July 4th.

I’ve been teaching how to rear monarch butterflies at Yale University the last few years. My approved method of rearing  was displayed in Discovery Hall, in the famous Peabody Museum, when a top Lepidopterist working at the Peabody Museum observed and approved my method. Here’s a short video of our butterfly hatchery in Discovery Hall please copy and paste link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO00Ry0QBL0&t=5s

We also raised butterflies using my method in the School of the Environment (formerly Forestry) at Yale, teaching professors and students alike how to raise healthy monarch butterflies. Here’s a short video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k0Ubbo92PM

At our Yale University graduation ceremonies most of the students topped their graduation caps with silk monarchs displayed in pollinator gardens pictured below.

We helped at the Yale farm cultivate and grow organic vegetables and taught the students and instructors how to

Raise monarchs using our approved method. Here’s a short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzVOzPgjwgM

I’m presently working with the curator of the historic Marsh Botanical Garden on the Yale campus, Kim Kunso, to raise native butterflies in some of the glass conservatories this summer and was recognized for contributing over 100   www.ABNativePlants.com to help restore the beds at the garden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8AJC3sdWKY

Below is a picture of one of the beds with the pollinator plants and one of the conservatories where we will have butterflies this summer. Also below is the letter I received from the Dean of the School of the Environment, Dr. Indy Burke, in recognition for my work with butterflies and plants on the Yale University campus.This is a link to the “Marsh Botanical Garden “ website:  https://marshbotanicalgarden.yale.edu/

THIS IS A LINK TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH DOZENS OF VIDEOS FROM OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS OR SO : https://www.youtube.com/@CraigTheButterflyman

A) Over the last 10+ years Dr. David James has literally created his own monarch migration in the Pacific Northwest through mass captive rearing monarchs and what he’s done is explained in depth with Gail Morris on this powerpoint video linked below. He explains how and why he had them captive reared in masses. Go to 24 minutes and 25 seconds on this video and start watching. David is one of the most respected and “published” monarch scientists worldwide. We're part of hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists rearing monarchs for the same reason David is. There just needs to be some continuity in what we reach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-hh5c8mw6o&t=1787s

B) David James was demonstrating, when mass captive reared monarchs were found 100s of miles farther South of where they were released, captive reared monarchs migrate long distances.

This is a link to the actual PUBLISHED scientific paper. You may have to copy and paste this link. This link still may not open unless you’re a member of the “Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society” If you’re not a member google them and sign up.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxZCsmWVYSidSFpmdVAtVEtMZDZNZ3dtWnpyWk5lWlE5WUZ3/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-RrhSSNXAA_mbnpga7yYYAg

Of course, we know tagged, dead captive reared monarchs have been found on the floor of the Mexican winter sanctuaries over the winter and spring proving they migrated sometimes thousands of miles to those overwintering sites in Mexico. This could mean many more were still alive in the trees and made it back to Texas to lay the next generation of eggs. I've always been curious why Monarch Watch has not put online an easily public accessible map showing lines between where monarchs were released,and where they were found including both dates. Here’s a link to the sanctuaries. The monarchs story in the sanctuaries linked here: https://www.mexperience.com/travel/outdoors/monarch-butterflies-mexico/#1

Remember, I teach you to raise your one generation of monarchs a season starting from eggs preferably in early June or if need by early July in the Midwest and Northeast. That allows their offspring to grow up in the wild, and their offspring's, offspring are the migration generation that makes the long trip to Mexico. Because they grew up in the wild, these last two generations have all the traits that monarchs have whose ancestors were never mass captive reared. The following link is a great educational read, you may need to copy and paste this link: https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27559

In the process of becoming educated about the life and times of the monarch butterflies, and their migration, you will hear from, or read things people have written, that will present their credentials as monarch scientists and experts that say it’s not acceptable science to raise monarchs in captivity because they are not healthy and have disease, BECAUSE they were raised in captivity.

That can be true if you don’t follow the scientist and biologist approved method I teach, and don’t follow the simple sanitation rules I teach on the following pages. It’s compulsory you follow the simple steps I teach.  

I teach to mass captive rear monarch butterflies, and if you do what I teach, you will raise healthy beautiful monarchs, that are as resilient and strong as any monarch that developed in the wild and the monarchs we raise ‘descendents’ will have as good as good a chance as any other monarch to make it to Mexico and back to Texas in the spring to lay eggs. I will dispute anyone who doubts my method, and I will be backed up by many scientists and biologists. Any monarch scientist is welcome to raise monarchs with me, side by side in June, and we will check them for disease when they (eclose) emerge, and they will be clean and healthy.

I created our Facebook "group" a few years ago and have been essentially teaching the following method of "raising" the monarch population and "raising" the monarch migration ever since. If you watch the 5 minute mini-documentary produced by an emmy winning producer and director in 2006 by PBS/KLRU in Austin,Texas, you’ll see I was raising monarchs and a butterfly family member, the Queen butterfly, in handmade hatcheries inside a 30’ screened in trailer I took to schools mostly in Texas,for children to walk through that gave now 10s of thousands of these children a live butterfly experience through all the stages of their life cycle linked here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfn9wuvVaDw&t=9s

The 2nd educational butterfly sanctuary trailer I built is below

I was recognized, by resolution, on the Texas House of Representatives floor, unanimously, for bringing my butterfly trailer to elementary and preschools so the teachers were able to give the children a live butterfly educational experience without the effort and expense of leaving the school grounds.

THIS IS THE LINK TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL WITH DOZENS OF VIDEOS FROM THE LAST DECADE: You may have to copy and paste the link   https://www.youtube.com/@craigthebutterflyman4387

We now have over 10,000 members in the "Mothership" Facebook group “How To Raise Monarch Butterflies” linked here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1743510422564285

and 25+ local chapters with the same name and a city suffix like "How To Raise Monarch Butterflies Des Moines Iowa" ,etc. You're welcome to create a Facebook group for free for your city also so you can share with friends and neighbors stories on the group timeline, and share eggs and plants and pass your pregnant monarch you caught and tested for OE around to lay eggs on your members milkweed in their hatchery. Just go to your Facebook page and find the “create a group” link, and name the group what you like. You’re welcome to post this E-Book to the top of your group page. Just copy the link below and paste it in the post you’re creating and the beautiful picture at the top of this book will show up on the post. Select (featured post) and this document will remain at the top of your group page. Copy and Paste this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1CLikD75auFtbf1Z-1UQ1aBCnqdZfOCC3xgtSupieA/edit

Please read on to learn more details as to why my approved natural monarch hatchery habitat method works so well. ENJOY RAISING THE MONARCH MIGRATION !!!

Here's a link to our group; this group is an open public Facebook group anyone can observe and/or join. Please share this document and Facebook group with your friends and family, they may want to get involved in our cause and movement to save the monarch butterfly migration too !!! THERE IS NO CHARGE OR MEMBERSHIP FEE OF ANY KIND !!! https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies

This entire document  is permanently pinned to the top of many monarch rearing and pollinators planting Facebook groups and pages for your reference. Please copy the link and Share this Educational  book on your and all your friends' Facebook `timelines, and through your email lists.

THIS IS THE LINK TO THIS DOCUMENT: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1CLikD75auFtbf1Z-1UQ1aBCnqdZfOCC3xgtSupieA/edit?fbclid=IwAR3_VIl44fGSa4xX-PRjpaGqRz9L9oECdFmIYupyt6KszmN71dvTx1uwZS0

Your friends and family may also want to join in our cause and movement to restore monarch and other pollinator habitats and pollinator populations!  Just post this link on your friends Facebook timeline feeds:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1CLikD75auFtbf1Z-1UQ1aBCnqdZfOCC3xgtSupieA/edit?fbclid=IwAR0F4qpVmxUoV1KXY0G2sN0wjcnYopiFlfc8zP1bgfBWl3yP7dDMlfIlqpg

All monarch Facebook pages and groups are welcome to pin this document to the top of their page and groups and post it daily on their timeline feed. Please use this link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H1CLikD75auFtbf1Z-1UQ1aBCnqdZfOCC3xgtSupieA/edit?fbclid=IwAR0F4qpVmxUoV1KXY0G2sN0wjcnYopiFlfc8zP1bgfBWl3yP7dDMlfIlqpg

All Monarch related "pages" are welcome to join our group with their page name.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies

Please click the following link to go to our fast growing 10,000+ member International educational and entertaining open public Facebook group. We have 25+ local chapters in North America. You may need to copy and paste the link below into your browser.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies

If you like, please join our group at this link, there’s no charge or membership fee, and you are welcome to post and participate in the group even if you're not a member.:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies 

Please briefly check out the group and then return to this publication to learn how you can get involved in our cause and movement that already involves hundreds of thousands of monarch butterfly enthusiasts in North America. Getting started raising beautiful healthy monarch butterflies adds to the population and migration and doesn’t cost anything, and raising up to 100+ is very easy and inexpensive, you just need to know how to get the best results. I’m here to teach you. https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies

First let’s help you discover the beautiful world of pollinators. After all, pollinators are responsible for one out of three bites of food you eat. If we lose pollinators we lose one third of what we eat and they are endangered. Watch this short video then come on back and I’ll share more with you. You may need to copy and paste this link into your browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQiszdkOwuU

(above)  beautiful monarchs emerging from the Chrysalis stage in a netted popup hatchery and letting their wings dry. 24 hours after emerging from their chrysalis they will be dry and strong and ready for release. You will be experiencing this miracle called metamorphosis soon, right in your own home.

In the picture above of the monarch butterfly the 2 black dots close to the abdomen on the lower secondary wings tell you it’s a male. Females look the same without the dots

In the picture above of the monarch life cycle stages the monarch lays the egg shown at the top of the picture, then it hatches as a caterpillar and eats a lot of milkweed leaves, (18 Tropical milkweed leaves and 12 common milkweed leaves),  then it moves to the top of your hatchery and J hangs on the top of the hatchery until it turns into a chrysalis.  After 10-14 days it drops out of the chrysalis, pumps up its wings with body liquid, dries for 24 hours, and then is ready to release outside to breed in the wild to increase the monarch population and migration. This is a narrated 10 minute video that will entertain and educate you on the life cycle of the monarch butterfly.  You may need to copy and paste this video link into your browser search bar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS6laNdMOXA

95% of monarch butterfly eggs laid on the monarchs caterpillar host plant milkweed, outside in the wild, don't make it through the first three stages,  (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis) to the in- flight adult stage. Hundreds of different species of monarch predators spend all day looking for monarch eggs, caterpillars, and/or chrysalis to kill and/or eat monarchs in these first three stages of life. Once in-flight the monarch has many defenses that allow them to survive until they breed and lay their eggs. Now they have done their work and die.

The easiest and most effective way for us to help restore and increase the monarch butterfly population, and therefore the monarch migration, is to protect the monarchs eggs from these predators indoors in a netted pop up hatchery, during their migration, placed next to a window until they are in the adult flight stage, and if they are uninfected and clean from any diseases released outdoors, into nature, to breed and further increase the monarch migration population. We also need to plant the plants monarchs and other pollinators thrive on and encourage our friends and family to do the same things. Search Google for "monarch and pollinator plants" for your state and/or your plant zone. Plant a pollinator garden !  www.ABNativePlants.com has the plants and information for your area and you will find their plants on our website and Facebook pages. They will ship your plants to your doorstep. If you don't buy their plants there are seeds available for a lot less money online. Just click this link and Suzanne will send them to you: http://butterfly-lady.com/

Raise A Monarch with A CUP !

If you want to raise one monarch totally free, in May and June in the Midwest and Northeast, you will find "common milkweed" growing everywhere by June 1st. Google "common milkweeds range in North America"

Linked below is a great video by scientist Frank Taylor showing you how to find monarch eggs to raise using our approved method.

Everywhere in the country you will be able to purchase pesticide free "tropical milkweed" in pots in garden centers. (Be sure to ask if it’s pesticide free).  Take a few minutes and enjoy this educational video.

Remember, in the coming pages, I will be describing and showing you how you can raise up to 100+ healthy beautiful monarchs with little effort and time. Raising one in a cup is a way you can interest a friend or in a business in our cause by sharing a cup with a milkweed stem in it, with an egg or caterpillar on it, so they can experience the miracle of metamorphosis. They will soon come back and want to raise 100 more to increase the population and migration.  You may need to copy and paste this link into your internet browser. When you’re finished watching, come on back and we’ll learn some more about raising the amazing monarch butterfly. Click or copy and paste this link:

How to find Monarch Butterfly eggs and caterpillars on Milkweed! Everything you need to know! 

If you’re out looking for eggs and you look closely you may find a monarch egg under a leaf. cut the stem close to the ground so it has at least ten leaves on it and a long stem; You may need to cut 2 stems if there’s not at least 10 leaves and an extra stem just in case they need more leaves. The plant growing in the ground you cut the stem from will grow a new stem and leaves in just a few weeks; remember, cut an extra stem in case the caterpillar needs more leaves to

eat.  Put the stems in a tall cup as shown above, with a lid on it like you were adding  2 straws next to each other. . Be sure you trim the stems just before putting  them through the lid into the water so the stem of milkweed can take up water and stay healthy. Don’t let there be any leaves in the water.  Put the cup on a window sill in your home with a couple paper towels under it to catch the caterpillar poop, and watch when the egg hatches and the caterpillar starts eating the leaves or take it to a friend's house so they can experience it. When the caterpillar has eaten enough it will J hang and turn into a chrysalis on the plant, or will crawl off the plant and make a chrysalis somewhere nearby. In 10-14 days the adult monarch will emerge. Its wings will dry in 24 hours and start flying around and you can take a picture with it, catch it, and release it outdoors.  

Raise up to 100+ monarchs in a netted popup hatchery !!!

Before I go into how to easily raise monarchs, I need to explain the sanitation of your pop up hatchery. The above hatchery should have had 3 layers of paper towels under the milkweed container and over the entire bottom of the hatchery.It should be changed regularly throughout the rearing process. Some of you have been rearing and already have a popup and don’t know you MUST sanitize it every time after you raise monarchs in it.  You need to put one part household bleach and 4 parts water in a container your pop up will fit totally submerged as shown in the picture below and leave it in there for 24 hours, take it out, rinse it thoroughly for a long time, and open it and let it dry before you use it for another generation.  IF YOUR POP UP IS BRAND NEW YOU DON’T NEED TO SANITIZE IT ! SANITIZE IT WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED REARING YOUR ONE LARGE GENERATION OF MONARCHS THIS SEASON !!!

How do you catch a gravid (pregnant) Monarch to put in your netted pop up hatchery to lay eggs on the stems of milkweed in the vase-like container ( one gallon milk jug ) with 3 layers of paper towels under the milkweed container (gallon milk jug). The popup should be close to a window on a table. Unless you are just collecting stems with eggs on them you will need some supplies BEFORE you start rearing monarchs.

2. A netted pop up around 14” x 14” x 24” for ($10-15) or better around 24” x 24” x 36” ($20-30) Google; Butterfly cage, habitat and take your pick Some are linked here; https://www.google.com/search?q=butterfly+cage+kit&rlz=1CAHKDC_enUS975&oq=butterfly+cage&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i13i512l9.18843j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
4. a butterfly net.
5. Click here for BUTTERFLY NET SUPPLIERS .
6. They are all good if they have a net about 1 Foot or more in diameter
7. "Dollar Tree " store sometimes has smaller $1 nets
8. A Good pair of scissors to cut milkweed stems
9. You will need 2-one gallon milk jugs rinsed well
10. You'll need a grocery plastic bag with holes poked in it to put the monarchs you catch. Be sure to keep the bag in the shade so the monarch won't cook and die, and tie a loose knot in the top of it..
11. You will need a 5 gallon bucket with 6 inches of water and some gloves,
13.  Google: ( Walmart online butterfly cage” Big netted pop up  2’ x 2’ x 3’                                                                                                                                                         $                                                                                                          $10-$25
14. Google: Walmart butterfly net                                                        $5-15
15. Google:   Walmart  5-5 gallon buckets                                           $20
16. Google: Walmart 1 gallon household bleach                                 $5

Google: mini-microscope                                                                    $5

Google: clearscotch tape                                                                    $3

17. Scissors

           You will be able to use everything you buy  above  over                        and over again every year

21. If YOU'RE RAISING MONARCHS IN A PART OF THE COUNTRY WHERE THE NATIVE MILKWEED IS OTHER THAN "COMMON" MILKWEED,  ANY SPECIES OF MILKWEED CAN BE SUBSTITUTED IN THE BELOW DESCRIBED METHOD INCLUDING PLANTS GROWING IN POTS
22. AS LONG AS the length of the STEMS  LEAVE A SPACE  4" FROM THE TOP OF THE  HATCHERY/NURSERY AND THEY'RE RINSED WELL.  Here is a link for common milkweed's range and description;
23. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/asclepias_syriaca.shtml#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20widespread%20and,and%20in%20prairies%20and%20pastures.
24. Common milkweed grows  everywhere in the Midwest and Northeast, and beginning June 1st, is about 2 feet tall just as the monarchs arrive in these areas.  Farther South in the U S, milkweed is 2 feet  tall a little earlier. You will need to know where there are 40-60 stems of common milkweed  at least  20"  tall to raise up to 100 monarchs using my approved method. You won't harvest them all at once, you just need to know where they are when you need them. This link is a picture of common milkweed  during the 3rd week in June.  https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10165018228590290&set=pcb.483811796001541 Pull a leaf off and see if white sap comes out or it's not "common" milkweed.
25.        
26.  YOU SHOULD WEAR GLOVES AND NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE OR EYES WHEN CUTTING OR OTHERWISE HANDLING MILKWEED. MILKWEED CONTAINS  SUBSTANCES THAT WILL IRRITATE YOUR EYES AND SKIN !  
27. The following 2 minute video shows what common milkweed looks like at the Yale University campus on June 1st  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saxx36cngQw
30. 
33. The following video actually shows me finding and harvesting common milkweed stems around June 1st. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MyBUVQSV5U
34. 2) Now that you have your hatchery/nursery and net or you're waiting for monarchs to arrive in your area, it's time to go find where "common" milkweed is growing in your area, see if there's any eggs on the leaves, and/or where you can catch a monarch butterfly to put in your hatchery/nursery to lay eggs on the milkweed.   You may have to go out looking a few times until you find monarchs flying around laying eggs.  Monarchs arrive in the Midwest and Northeast after June 1st. Get out and catch one before July 4th. It's not recommended that you START raising monarchs from eggs after July 4th.
35. RAISE ONE GENERATION OF MONARCHS STARTING FROM THE EGG STAGE BEFORE AROUND JULY 4TH EACH SEASON !!!
36.  It's advantageous to get some common or other milkweed started growing along with some nectar plants in your yard that will attract monarchs when they arrive in your area on their migration. You won't need to leave your yard to find eggs on your milkweed and/or net a monarch laying eggs off of your property.        

        Once mature, common milkweed sends out lots of runners, and new stems will pop up. It gets 5 feet tall and will take over the area you plant it so give it lots of room.

1. Please watch this one minute video of a monarch laying an egg on common milkweed  so you'll know what you're looking for. In this video it is a lot taller than it is in the video above taken in June.
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsgZd8cFJOg
3. PLEASE HAVE A FRIEND TAKE VIDEO AND PICTURES OF YOUR "CATCHING A BUTTERFLY EXPERIENCE" OR FINDING EGGS ON PLANTS AND POST THEM ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP TIMELINE FEED.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies
4. When you go exploring It's best to take someone with you ! You may want to take a friend or find an experienced monarch butterfly enthusiast in your area. If you find someone,  through asking around at nature centers, etc.,they may be able to tell you where to find milkweed and/or share a female to lay eggs on your plants.  WHEN YOU JOIN OUR GROUP , PUT THE CITY YOU LIVE IN ON A POST ON THE TIMELINE AND ASK IF THERE IS A MEMBER LIVING CLOSE TO YOU YOU CAN BUDDY UP WITH.  WITH 10,000+ members across the country, you're likely to find someone quickly.
5. Don't forget to take your butterfly net, plant stem cutters, a pair of gloves, a 5 gallon bucket with about 6 inches of water, and your plastic grocery bag with holes in it to put your egg laying monarch butterfly. Keep the bag in the shade so your monarch doesn't cook. Sometimes you can get your milkweed, find eggs under or on top of the leaves, and/or catch an egg laying monarch in one trip  IT"S BEST TO CATCH AN EGG LAYING MONARCH BUTTERFLY to introduce to your hatchery to lay eggs on the milkweed stems.
6.  THE MILKWEED PLANTS YOU HARVEST YOUR MILKWEED STEMS FROM WILL RECOVER ITS LEAVES AND STEMS IN LESS THAN A MONTH TO FEED MORE MONARCH CATERPILLARS IN THE WILD.  

1. Before you put the female monarch in the hatchery you will need to check her for a parasite called OE. Here’s a link to a page with a video that explains how to do that:  Google “60x mini-microscope” $3-5,  and order one if you haven’t already;
2. http://butterfly-lady.com/what-is-oe/?fbclid=IwAR2tbT1OWz8ePqTUAYiU4WbpbgBO0cRC8Us3BLsnHteSx7Iq_ZWLtyHlJ40

           IF YOU DISCOVER SHE HAS OE YOU WILL NEED TO PUT HER IN THE FREEZER, WASH YOUR HANDS, AND DISPOSE OF HER IN THE TRASH. OE ISN'T DANGEROUS TO ANYTHING EXCEPT MONARCH BUTTERFLIES AND IS CONTAGIOUS TO EGGS, CATERPILLARS, CHRYSALIS, AND ADULTS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS.

1. You should harvest 12- 20" long common milkweed stems with lots of leaves and maybe with a few eggs on them and/or better, catch a monarch laying eggs with a net so you can put her in your hatchery to lay 100 eggs to raise up to 100 monarchs. After she lays about 100 eggs you can move her to another hatchery to lay more eggs until she's laid up to 400 eggs in 4 hatchery set ups.
2. YOU WILL NEED TO RETURN TO THIS AREA OR ANOTHER LOCATION TO HARVEST MORE MILKWEED STEMS AFTER YOUR CATERPILLARS START GETTING  BIG. YOU MUST START YOUR REARING OF YOUR ONE  GENERATION OF MONARCHS EACH SEASON BY JULY 4th or a few days later.  WHEN YOU'VE RELEASED  THE MONARCHS YOU'VE RAISED, STERILIZE YOUR HATCHERY/NURSERY AND PUT IT AWAY UNTIL NEXT YEAR. Fold up your hatchery and completely submerge it in a mix of 1 part household bleach and 4 parts water for 24 hours and then rinse it very well.
3.  
4. If you caught an egg laying monarch and brought her home,`It's time to set up your hatchery. Keep your monarch in a plastic grocery bag out of the sun, with small holes in it if you need to sterilize your hatchery before you put her in it to lay eggs on the stems of milkweed.
5. Before you put the female monarch in the hatchery you will need to check her for a parasite called OE. Here’s a link to a page with a video that explains how to do that:  Google “60x mini-microscope” $3-5,  and order one if you haven’t already;
6. http://butterfly-lady.com/what-is-oe/?fbclid=IwAR2tbT1OWz8ePqTUAYiU4WbpbgBO0cRC8Us3BLsnHteSx7Iq_ZWLtyHlJ40

           IF YOU DISCOVER SHE HAS OE, YOU WILL NEED TO PUT HER IN THE FREEZER, WASH YOUR HANDS, AND DISPOSE OF HER IN THE TRASH. OE ISN'T DANGEROUS TO ANYTHING EXCEPT MONARCH BUTTERFLIES AND IS CONTAGIOUS TO EGGS, CATERPILLARS, CHRYSALIS, AND ADULT MONARCHS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS.

1.  Put 6-20" milkweed  stems that have been rinsed well under a faucet, in a gallon milk jug full of water, in the hatchery/nursery on some kind of table, close to a window, in your house.  Put the other 6 stems in a bucket with about 6" of water in it. Trim the bottom of all stems and pull off any leaves that would be under water just a couple seconds before you put them in the vase or bucket so they will take up water and stay fresh.
   
2. IF YOUR HATCHERY AND NURSERY HAS A SCREEN OR VINYL BOTTOM PUT A TRIPLE LAYER OF PAPER TOWELS, COVERING THE ENTIRE BOTTOM,  UNDER YOUR GALLON MILK JUG FULL OF MILKWEED. POSITION THEM SO THEY GO 1" UP THE SIDES OF THE HATCHERY TO CATCH CATERPILLAR DROPPINGS. You can change the paper towels a
4. 
5. couple times throughout the process. Be sure your hatchery is sterilized BEFORE YOU PUT ANYTHING IN IT ! Fold it up and completely submerge it in a one part household bleach and four parts water for 24 hours; remove it and thoroughly rinse it and open it up and let it dry.
6.  
7. In the video linked below I'm teaching Yale University students to naturally raise monarchs at the Yale University Farm. Use a one gallon milk jug full of water as a milkweed stem container and not the white waste basket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzVOzPgjwgM&t=252s 

          WALMART NOW STOCKS WHAT THEY CALL "BUTTERFLY CAGES"  ( I LIKE TO CALL THEM HATCHERIES OR NURSERIES)

          GOOGLE "WALMART BUTTERFLY CAGES" AND PICK THE AROUND 14" x 14" x 24"  ($10-15), OR BETTER AROUND 24" X 24" x 36" ($20-$30)

1. In a picture below you will see one of many Yale graduates with silk monarchs and pollinator gardens on top of their graduation caps. Of course you can order hatcheries online GOOGLE: BUTTERFLY HABITATS or cages.  Any size over 14" x 14" x 23" will work fine.  If you get the 24' x 24" x 36" hatchery you will be able to put 3-one gallon containers of milkweed stems inside the hatchery all at the same time to feed your developing caterpillars.    
2. After she's laid about 110 eggs on the tops and bottoms of leaves you can  put her in another hatchery/nursery setup to lay eggs or release her.  PLEASE TAKE  A VIDEO OF HER LAYING EGGS AND POST IT ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE.  
   
   In about a week the eggs will hatch and you will see holes in the leaves. As the stems are stripped of leaves by the caterpillars, add fresh tripped at the bottom, stems from your bucket. You will have to harvest at least 20 more stems each time you go to your stand of milkweed . When the caterpillars have moved to the fresh stems, remove the stripped stems.                                Quit adding stems when all the caterpillars have moved to the top of the nursery   PLEASE TAKE  A VIDEO OR PICTURE OF THE CATERPILLARS EATING AND  POST IT ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE. CLICK AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE !!
3. In about 10-12 days when the caterpillars are as big as they need to be, they will move to the top of the hatchery and hang like a J and turn into a chrysalis. IF THE LEAVES ARE ALL STRIPPED FROM THE STEMS, AND THE CATERPILLARS  HAVEN'T ALL MOVED TO THE TOP IMMEDIATELY GO OUT AND HARVEST ABOUT 10 MORE 20" STEMS, rinse them well, TO PUT IN THE VASE, A COUPLE AT A TIME, UNTIL THEY MOVE TO THE TOP OF THE HATCHERY.  
4. PLEASE TAKE  A VIDEO OR PICTURE OF THE CATERPILLARS AND CHRYSALIS HANGING ON TOP OF THE HATCHERY and POST IT ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE. CLICK AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE TO GO TO OUR GROUP PAGE !!!
   
   In about 10-12 days adult monarch butterflies will start to emerge and hang to dry their wings.
5. Here's a video showing monarchs emerging
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7_Dn26aLR0
7.  In about 24 hours they will be dry and moving their wings.
8. Before you release them you will need to check at least seven out of 100 for OE. This link tells you about OE and how to check for it.
9. You will need a mini microscope. Google: “60x mini- microscope” $3-5 ,order one, and then study the information at this  link. You may need to copy and paste this link in your browser,  http://butterfly-lady.com/what-is-oe/?fbclid=IwAR2tbT1OWz8ePqTUAYiU4WbpbgBO0cRC8Us3BLsnHteSx7Iq_ZWLtyHlJ40
10. Check 7 of them if you raised around 100. If you find any OE check them all. If you don’t find any, let them all go. You’ll have to put the ones with OE in the freezer overnight then put them in the trash and wash your hands. You can’t release them or they will spread the disease. After they’re all released and everything is out of the hatchery fold it up and bleach it to disinfect it. Totally submerged in a 1 part household bleach and 4 parts water for 24 hours.  Rinse the hatchery very well and open it to let it dry, fold it back up and store it until next season, you've done your part. The monarchs you saved from predators will lay eggs in the wild and multiply their numbers.

You can now take them outside to a garden center or park , or field with lots of nectar flowers, unzip the hatchery and with the unzipped side up release them so they can produce more monarchs in the wild to add to the population and migration that wouldn't have existed without your

help. HERE’S A RELEASE AT A HARLEY RALLY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUV1HtUxhk

If people ask you where you got them, tell them to go to www.HowtoRaiseMonarchButterflies.com  

36. This is a great release event Thousands attended at this link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVcAFLLJRBU 
37.   Please watch this 1 minute video  of monarchs I raised having emerged  at Yale University in Kroon Hall, the home of the School of the Environment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWxEVsM-33o

Below is a popup netted butterfly hatchery with late stage caterpillars eating leaves on the common milkweed stems immersed in the vase-like container, layers of paper towels should have been spread on the bottom to catch the caterpillar poop, (stems should always be trimmed at the bottom just before putting them in the vase of water so they will take up water and stay fresh).  You will need dozens of more rinsed and trimmed milkweed stems to feed 100 monarch caterpillars to get them to chrysalis stage and climbing to the top of the hatchery. You can keep a supply in containers ready to trade out on the floor close to the one in the window like in the picture below.

Mass captive rearing monarchs, by a few thousand average Americans, in June each year, will increase our monarch population and migration population tremendously. Please get your friends and family involved. We love our beautiful monarch butterflies and all pollinators.

 D) It's obvious mass rearing can and should be done in the early generations, out of Mexico, so the last generation or 2 develops and multiplies in the wild before the last generation goes into diapause and heads to Mexico.

When the migration generation develops in the wild all of the so-called monarch experts agree it produces butterflies that are resilient and sometimes larger than earlier generations in the migration and can easily make the trip to the Mexican sanctuaries, overwinter, and make the return trip to Texas in the spring to lay eggs and then their job is done and they die.  

E) You should know one of the most respected U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists, Dr Chuck Sexton and Rob Iski observed, tested, and approved the method I developed and took to them demonstrating how to safely mass captive rear monarchs.

They observed the method, they emerged from their chrysalis, and let their wings dry for 24 hours, and they tagged them and released them to migrate to Mexico. You will see 2 pictures below I took back in September of 2006 with my homemade hatchery in the window of the lab at Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Refuge. I've continued to have success rearing using this method ever since with a little fancier accommodations for our monarchs these days.

 F) The monarch I caught laid eggs on the tropical milkweed in that original hand made hatchery

that was was clean and uninfected with OE when she went into that hatchery near a window in the laboratory back in '06. The tropical milkweed that was in pots was rinsed well, was clean and healthy when it went into that hatchery, and the hatchery was clean when the milkweed and monarch were introduced to the hatchery; rinsed well milkweed plants were changed out as the leaves were stripped, 40 larvae went to the top and went into chrysalis stage, all 40 emerged as adults, their wings dried and were checked for OE and tagged before they were released 24 hours later by our scientists to migrate to Mexico. CLEAN SCREENED HATCHERY, CLEAN WILD CAUGHT GRAVID (pregnant) FEMALE, CLEAN TROPICAL MILKWEED PLANTS IN A WINDOW IN A LAB GOES IN, AND  PRODUCES CLEAN HEALTHY MONARCHS COMING OUT !!!  

G) During the time I've lived in the Northeast and taught at Yale University, I've caught a wild monarch in June, put her in a clean disinfected pop up hatchery, used rinsed clean common milkweed stems (with the stems trimmed as they were immersed in the water in the jug so they stayed fresh) in a vase-like container or 1 gallon milk jug and, traded the stripped ones out with well rinsed trimmed fresh milkweed stems, and as many as 300 have gone to the top of a 24" 24" x 36" netted pop up near a window, and when they eclosed (emerged), I let them dry for 24 hours without feeding them, checked a dozen of them for OE, and couldn't find any, so I released them all. FEED MONARCHS WITH 1 PART SUGAR< 9 PARTS WATER ON A SPONGE

H) YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW ! I found, If I used a monarch from that first generation I raised to produce more eggs and raise them, I found that OE would show up on most of those butterflies. I tried this a few years and the original generation I raised in June would always be clean of OE and ensuing generations would be infected. I teach to raise one generation of around 100 monarchs per season and not to start rearing from eggs after around July 4th.

I) This way the last generation, the migration generation, would grow up in the wild. No one would know their parents were captive reared when their offspring were caught, tagged, and released would they ?  We can know who their parents are when we release them, and how their parents were raised if we tag them. I helped teach the founders of the "Monarch Research Project" in Marion, Iowa how to raise monarchs in a netted pop up hatchery.

https://monarchresearch.org/ 

J) The founders of "The Monarch Research Projects" first experience with mass rearing came when they put a large piece of mosquito netting (25' x 25' would be a great size with .03” x .03” ,970 holes per square inch) over a stand of 100 stems of common milkweed in June, staked and weighted the perimeter, caught a couple female and male monarchs, and put them under the net, checked on them once in a while,and a month later came back and they were able to release 100s of monarchs, a few at a time over a couple days, when they carefully lifted the netting. That's it, no muss no fuss !!!

K) This is the most natural way to raise monarchs if you can find a convenient stand of 100+ stems of common milkweed.  Easy to explain too !!!  Look at all I had to explain in the previous method. I recommend everyone receiving this E-Book living in the summer breeding grounds in the Midwest and Northeast try this NO MUSS, NO FUSS this season, in June,  when the migration is still clean of any diseases. Catch a couple monarchs you see laying eggs.  Check them for O E., you probably won't find any.  Net a couple nearby and put them under the net and see what happens. This is idiot proof. You will probably be surprised how easy it is to increase the monarch and insect population with this simple procedure. With a few thousand  citizen scientists using this simple inexpensive method to protect monarch stages from aerial predators we can add a tremendous amount of clean healthy monarchs to the migration. Make sure you use mosquito netting weighted around the perimeter of the net so it won't blow away and will keep predators out. Weed eat the perimeter area a few feet out, Put some terrestrial insect pesticide pellets around the outside perimeter to keep predators out. If you know where there is a stand of around a 100 or so stems of milkweed, put a net over your stand of milkweed and release a couple females into it and watch the monarchs develop, check the gravid pregnant females for OE before you put them in the netted area. If they're uninfected with

OE put them in.  I will be linking to a place you can order a net big enough for covering 2 areas of 100+ stems of milkweed for $70 and free shipping right here soon. The net needs to be at least 25’ x 25’ and have holes in it no larger than .03” x .03” so the smallest predators can’t get in. This is a link to many different sizes of nets like this, you just need to find the right size. You may need to copy and paste this link into your browser. https://www.gardenport.com/collections/insect-netting

HOW MANY CLEAN HEALTHY MONARCHS WILL THIS ADD TO THE MONARCH MIGRATION ???

HERE'S THE MATH

1) WE COULD DECLARE IT A NATIONAL HOLIDAY !!!  CATCH A MONARCH DAY !!! If  10,000 citizen scientists in the summer breeding grounds (Midwest and Northeast) placed a 25' x 25' , perimeter weighted net over around a 100 stem stand of common milkweed in mid June or a couple weeks before or after, in the summer breeding grounds, and introduced a couple (gravid ) pregnant females under the net or portable greenhouse, and each net produced 300 monarchs for release a month later, and half were female (1.5 million ), and each laid 400 eggs (600,000,000 total) and 5% of those monarchs made it to the adult in-flight stage in the wild and half were female, that would be 30 million female monarch butterflies to lay 400 eggs each in the wild for the next migrate to Mexico generation and that would be 12 BBBILLION EGGS .  If just 10% made it to the adult, in-flight stage and made it to Mexico, that would be 1.2 billion in the overwintering sites or 10 times as many as the 2021-22 winter.

 3)    THAT"S A LOT OF PEOPLE WITH A LOT OF NETS THOUGH !!!   Not really if it's a national holiday.

4) Since it's mostly aerial predators in the Midwest that attack monarchs we may get at least a 10-15% survival rate, maybe more.  Figure that up. We would probably only need half the people (5000) to produce three times the clean monarchs .

5) That's about 4 billion clean monarchs that grew up in the wild and made it to Mexico. The numbers would be astronomical.

6) It sure beats spending all our time planting common native milkweeds that do a very good job reproducing all by themselves through runners and seeds; but you know that, don't you. Like Anurag Agrual says. I'm paraphrasing; We got plenty of weed man !

Here's Anurag's video on “there’s enough milkweed”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q44uzoTR2E 

IT IS ADVISABLE, IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ABOVE DESCRIBED METHOD OF REARING MONARCHS INSTEAD OF GOING OUT AND LOOKING FOR A STAND OF 100 STEMS OF COMMON MILKWEED CLOSE TOGETHER, IN THE COUNTRY OR VACANT LOT, ETC.,YOU CAN GROW AT LEAST 100 STEMS OF MILKWEED IN YOUR BACKYARD CLOSE TOGETHER SO YOU CAN THROW A NET OVER THEM and add a couple pregnant female monarchs under the net. It takes a couple years to get it established but it’s worth it.

8) We get results !!! The people ignoring lour egitimate research, that needs to be done, and costs almost nothing, will be the ones with mud on their face.

9) Of course, if Dr Brower gets his wishes shown below, and each person is allowed to raise 100 monarchs per year without a permit, even if the monarch is listed, as outlined in the document below, you will be able to participate in saving the monarch just like any other average citizen scientists.

10) Most of us use our own time and treasure to increase monarchs and pollinators because we honestly love seeing them and want to protect them !

11) The resolution unanimously passed on the Texas House floor is also pictured below recognizing me for the education I've done with now 10s of thousands of children in Texas and now around the country.  

12) Please help us plant our landscape coast to coast with more pollinator friendly plants in North America. You can order plants and they will be delivered to your home or business www.ABNativeplants.com

I'm sure the founders of the "Monarch Research Project" will receive scientists at their beautiful facility in Marion, Iowa with open arms this MAY. After all Clark Mcleod, the founder of the project, is a former science teacher and Campbell Watts has been a butterfly enthusiast most of his life and qualifies as a scientist !!!. If you consider yourself a monarch citizen scientist by just raising 1 or 300 monarchs for release email them, tell them thank you for what they do for monarchs and ask how you can help Send them an email and CC me on your email    info@monarchresearch.org

CraigTheButterflyman@gmail.com

Happy Rearing !

www.CraigtheButterflyman.com

You probably want a trailer like what I built below.

Here's an abbreviated list of my accomplishments in MONARCHY   I've been recognized for bringing state agencies and NGOs. together for monarch butterfly conservation The administrators at lady bird Johnson wildflower center Www.wildflower.org recognized me for putting them together with Texas Parks and Wildlife and involving them with former First Lady Laura Bush's NGO, Www.TexanbyNature.orgTexan By Naturewww.texanbynature.org We align the broad interests of conservation groups with business, health care, schools, the scientific community, and faith-based organizations.

https://www.fws.gov/…/Laura-Bush-Brings-Voice-to-Monarch-Co…

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Open Spaces Blog www.fws.gov Former First Lady Laura Bush encouraged all Texans to join her in helping save the monarch by planting native milkweed and nectar-producing plants whether over vast ...

Craig,

Thanks so very much for your continued support of the Wildflower Center. We really appreciate your help. Thanks to you, we made that wonderful connection with David Eichler and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. As a result, we were invited to participate in the Texas Monarch and Native Pollinator Conservation Action Plan. Now THAT’S CONSERVATION IN ACTION!

Best wishes,

Karen H. Clary, Ph.D.

Senior Program Manager, Plant Conservation

UT-Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

4801 La Crosse Avenue

Austin, TX 78739

512-232-0160

My greatest accomplishment by far in monarchy has been providing an educational live butterfly experience, in all stages, to 10 ' s of thousands of Texas children hopefully to encourage them later in life to support conservation of the creatures we've been entrusted with;

Planted miles of pollinator and wildlife habitat; http://www.txwclp.org/2011/11/resident-helps-with-pond-springs-road-beautification/

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/pages/CraigTheButterflyMancom/174842925931442

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plant-Milkweed/343137732539458?ref=eyJzaWQiOiIwLjIwMjYwMTY0MTg5NTAwNTMiLCJxcyI6IkpUVkNKVEl5VUd4aGJuUWxNakJOYVd4cmQyVmxaQ1V5TWlVMVJBIiwiZ3YiOiI5NGFkMGE1NTE2ZDdhOGQ3YThhZWZiMmY4M2FhZjJlOGU0MjRiMjU2In0

The local Austin PBS channel KLRU produced a short documentary about the monarch butterfly. We were some of the human participants. We were chosen with the recommendation of the federal refuge Balcones Canyonlands administrators. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfn9wuvVaDw I use it to introduce myself and it gives me further credibility in the conservation community and schools. ( 6 Minutes;)

We've also taken the mobile butterfly sanctuary to many events including Museum Day at the Bob Bullock Museum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CViWa_3xocE

If you want more information google me; "Craig The Butterflyman" There's a few more articles published about some other community service I've performed. https://www.google.com/search…#

We have many educational videos online at my youtube channels

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCs7xh1Q-8wfFBlSYNdu2QIA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaB1rMMnxEtKWWgTF9fQQ6g

We also represented the State of Texas in the International tent the last 2 years of "The Texas Outdoor Expo" at TPWD. We were next to the Mexican delegation representing the Biosphere Preserve in the mountains where the monarch overwinters. We taught children about the monarch and its migration.

We've perfected a simple ecologically and scientifically monitored and approved butterfly hatchery system to demonstrate to citizen scientists how they can protect the stages of monarch butterflies. Citizens can raise butterflies in their kitchens and release healthy butterflies to further breed and multiply in the wild. Public gardens such as Riemann gardens at Iowa State University. https://www.reimangardens.com/. has worked to perfect raising techniques. Iowa State biologists have monitored projects and tested to be sure the monarchs being released will be disease free butterflies released to populate their gardens to complement their live butterfly conservatory

.

Here's a link to a video playlist demonstrating How to easily raise Monarch Butterflies. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2cGMUe0hrn9y5io68rzycOoQccH1iPcH

Please follow and like our Facebook pages. Become a "Monarchy Aficionado" and like hundreds of city, state, and national directors of conservation groups, officials, and monarch and pollinator lovers worldwide receive regular updates on events and info locally, statewide, and nationally by emailing CraigTheButterflyMan@gmail.com

THANK YOU AGAIN MONARCH LOVERS FROM MARY AND I FOR ALL YOU DO. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL SOON !!!!   SINCERELY,  www.CraigTheButterflyman.com