Raising Hope for the 2026 Monarch Migration
Raise The Migration 2026 Results
Raise The Migration is an annual North American challenge to raise monarch butterflies to release for fall’s annual 2026 monarch migration. The time has come to share your raising experience and raise it forward…
The raising season is coming to an end, so we’d love to hear how many butterflies you released for fall’s annual 2026 monarch migration…but more importantly, what lessons you’ve learned through this amazing raising experience?
If you’ve still got some raising to do, raise on! But please post in the comment box at the bottom of this page after you’ve released your last butterfly.
Every year, I start Raise The Migration in July, but monarchs raised at that time aren’t actually migration generation butterflies…they’re the parents to that amazing generation of travelers.
There’s no way to tell whether butterflies will mate or migrate, but one telltale sign of a migration generation butterfly is its size, which is dependent on how much milkweed the caterpillar eats. The first super-sized caterpillars start to form chrysalides around the first week of September in our northern region…
In the garden, you can tell non-migratory butterflies by their worn out wings. Non-migratory males are also more aggressive, chasing off potential competition while seeking out female companionship…migratory monarchs are in sexual diapause and only interested in stocking up on nectar for the long journey ahead.
So how did our Migration Monarchs fare this season and what lessons did we learn raising forward? Find out below, but first…
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Here are Raise the Migration results from the past thirteen seasons:
2025- 93% Survival Rate
2024- 100% Survival Rate
2023– 89% Survival Rate
2022- 100% Survival Rate
2021- 86% Survival Rate
2020- 82% survival rate
2019- 81% survival rate
2018- 93% survival rate
2017- 100% survival rate
2016- 96% survival rate
2015- 96% survival rate
2014- 90% survival rate
2013- 100% survival rate
As you can see from the results, this raising system is consistently producing healthy monarchs to help improve our raising experience while also helping to support the struggling monarch population.
Raise The Migration 2026 Results
Coming in September…
Here’s what happened with our __ monarch guests this season…
Caterpillar Escapes
Coming in September…
Unexplained Caterpillar Deaths
Coming in September…
Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites
Coming in September…
Accidental Deaths
Coming in September…
Chrysalis Problems
Coming in September…
Butterfly Eclosure Issues
Coming in September…
Final Results
So how many monarchs survived to reach butterhood?
__ healthy butterflies were released from __ to __
? accidental deaths
? disease or parasite issues
? unexplained deaths
? chrysalis problems
? healthy males
? healthy females
___ survival rate
Lessons Learned in 2026
We raised both indoors and out this year and here’s a few lessons learned from both setups:
Outdoors:
Indoors:
Migration Memories 2026
This photo was posted in 2025 and will be switched out for a new migration memory in September ’26:
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I hope you enjoyed reading about my Raise The Migration ’26 results and lessons learned raising monarchs through the butterfly life cycle .
And now, we’d love to hear about your experience…
Share Your Results?! ✍️
Please share your results at the bottom of this page and let us know how many monarchs you released to help boost the struggling monarch population…remember to include your location.
More importantly, please share the most valuable lesson(s) you learned about raising monarch butterflies, that you believe can help others in the community raising forward.
Thank you for helping to Raise the Migration in 2026
