Raising Monarchs - How To Feed Adults (Help The Monarch Butterfly)

i have a rescue butterfly (peacock species) who was in my back garden. he's been with me about 7/8 months now!! i didn't know they lived that long. he only has one antenna, one of his feet is damaged, and his wings are also damaged so he can't fly. he lives in a tank with native plants in (they are thriving! though i have to water them gently everyday) and i try and feed him as much as i possibly can. i never knew butterflies have so much personality till i got him, he is always cleaning his face and wiggling his antenna and generally just being cute. he's very comfortable around me now, he sits on my collarbone for warmth and likes me taking him outside to sunbathe. i think he must have been almost caught by a bird or maybe a gust of wind and that's where he got his injuries from? anyway, he is in good hands.

I came across a butterfly in my yard laying in the grass. Her front legs weren't working and she couldn't fly. I brought her and she still alive and thanks to your video I am feeding her at this point. I'm hoping feeding her will help I've named her Jemma. thank you so much for your video. I'll send pictures if you want I'm not sure what's happened to her or why she only has two legs and cannot fly. Thank you again. BTW I have followed your videos and raised 30 butterflies this year hoping to help in your efforts. It's been a great experience.

This was helpful! I had a female that eclosed on 10/16/22! And it was quite cold outside for several days, so I made the honey solution (the monarch wasn’t interested in my old coneflowers or mums), then used a pin to draw her straw out to pull from the small sponge with the honey solution. I think she drank, but I was able to release this past weekend when it warmed to 75 on Saturday! Halleluijah!

I did this for the first time... and was so nervous!!!!!!!! But it worked! And my butterfly was very happy. Thanks so much for these vids.

So in the beginning, you said “you might wanna spend some time with it after you emerged it from egg to adult” it’s truly incredible cause after I let the butterflies go, they stick around my area and lay eggs! I feed them in cause of bad weather, (wind, rain, etc) and I have to keep them in 3 days at least. Love your video Rich!!💕💓

Love your Videos. I am a 10 year Honeybee Keeper in Western NC. I seen this Video about feeding the Monarchs. May I add to the Honey part? The Monarch Raiser if they are going to feed their Butterfly's Honey: They should buy Honey from a Well Trusted Local Bee Keeper. The honey you buy in the store is 90% of the time is not true Honey, It has Honey in it , It also has anything from white sugar water to maple syrup to chemicals (herbicides, insecticides, ...) in them. Thanks. Keep the videos coming. I am starting to study more about Monarchs and will try to raise some this summer 2018.

Hey! today i´m freeing my first Monarch Buttefly, thank you so much!

Thank you so much for your response. I did keep her and feed her for 2 weeks and 3 days. She has passed this am, but not without experiencing outside, I took her out every single day to hang out in the milkweed and the garden. Thanks again.

thank you! i found a butterfly with a bent wing and now i have to look after him

Thank you so much, Rich, for putting this valuable information out for consumption! It was challenging for me to educate myself on how to care for “Fluff”, our little guy we found on the sidewalk in September 2019 - he had likely had a collision with a car, and had 3 of 4 wing parts damaged. My daughter and I chose to help him. We placed him on a flowering plant for several days and, though he couldn’t fly, he seemed to be getting stronger. It began to get cold (I live in the northeast), so we took him in and learned all we could about monarch care (this was our first experience with caring for a butterfly - though we are nature enthusiasts, we believe in a hands off approach). Your site and videos helped me immensely in my learning curve! Fluff died yesterday, after spending 107 days with us. A very special time, made easier, thanks to you!

Rescued a monarch butterfly on my evening walk. It was in the middle of the road flapping it's wings but not going anywhere. The wings aren't damaged at all it just seems tired/hungry. So i pick it up and took it home with me. Thank you for this vid, it helped me feed this butterfly.

Thanks for the honey water tip. I live in southern Alabama now, from California, where I helped out the Western Monarchs. The warm season last a long time here and my caterpillars were given more milkweed to supply their veracious appetite . Then the adults kept dropping by to lay more eggs, so I ended up with more caterpillars out of season..To keep everyone warm, I tented my large flower box with clear painters plastic over curved arches and clothespins. Then as winter approached more covers and blankets, topped with plastic to keep them dry from the rain. All of the covers are removed each day so the caterpillars and milkweed can get sunshine. So far ....they’ve done very well. At this time Feb. 8th, I have 4 chrysalis and 2 end stage cats, and the milkweed is thriving in the box , with some recently purchased nectar flowers, and ready for the normal time of year when the Monarchs are plentiful. I know it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature, and I do understand that it’s not responsible to grow them out of season. Supposedly some of the Monarchs stay the winter around here in Fort Morgan and the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Ala. Hope my babies find their way. The pandemic has really kept me at home so I was able to observe their life cycle so closely that I learned more about them that I never knew. For instance their beautiful geometric eggs were a complete surprise. And their bright green jeweled chrysalis, looks just like an earring, with gold. There’s plenty more about these gorgeous and hardworking pollinators, to be discovered. Everyone needs to help out with milkweed so they will not go extinct. They need to be protected. Thanks again for your passion.

Thank you so very much for all that you do! I have been raising Monarchs for nearly 16 years now, and you have taught me some very important things that I never knew until this summer.

I’m in South Florida- back in December I released 3 monarch’s. The caterpillars came with the milkweed plants I bought. Well one of the butterflies hasn’t gone too far. She comes around a lot and likes to look into the screened patio where she was born. As if she remembers. She flies around in circles around me as if she’s saying hello. So she left a lot of eggs for me. I started with 25 but a few didn’t make it past a caterpillar adult I opened the door in the cages so if they want they can get out of the small cage and hang on the screen panels to air their wings and do their thing if they enclose when I’m not home. Plus, I want my private time with them before I release them. I’m so excited. And the weather here has been perfect

This is so cuuuuute I LOVE when they open their wings while they’re eating

My wife and I are raising Monarchs here in Australia, so there’s not much reliable information available locally. We really appreciate your informative and entertaining videos. All the best! 👍

Hey Rich,what a wealth of information your channel has. I live in southern California and started my project on raising monarchs in Feburary 2020! Just released my first five monarchs out of about 25. What a GEAT experience to see them fly way with such anticipation gliding on the air currents! Absolutely Beautiful!! I will be expanding my efforts in the near future for more new flyers of the golden black monarchs!! Please keep those videos rolling! Thank again for all that you do for the monarchs. Jack and Lori.

Hey Mr.Lund with the help of your videos I raised 6 gorgeous monarch butterflies and your videos helped me in every step. Thank you so much for doing this cant wait to do this every season every year.

Thank you so much for this! I followed your directions and she (a migrator) is feeding like a champ! The weather will not warm up in Wisconsin for several days so we will be doing this for a few days. It’s also a nice bonding session between us. ❤️

Thanks for the wonderfully clear & succinct instructions on this! I've been rearing butterflies & ornamental moths for about 40 years -- it was a perfect hobby for me when our babes started coming along -- and I continue to do so, though mainly monarchs & Eastern swallowtails. Usually about 150 per year. One of your respondents below spoke of his successful J-formation guys suddenly losing their necessary-for-pupation form and dangling down, straight-arrow. This has inexplicably happened to me a few times as well, to my great despair. HOWEVER, the last time it happened I decided to step in for Mother Nature and try to manually "crank" him into the pupation. That is, because the tip of his head was already a bit green, I thought he might be ready to pupate, if only he were in the correct position. So I cupped my hand and let his helmet-head repose there, brushing lightly against my palm until the body was slightly bent, in J-formation. Then I gently revolved my hand, clockwise, in a slow and steady rotation, round & round. My intuition was that the simulated gyrations would stimulate the green-coating release (forgot the name for that). So I sat there cranking for upwards of three minutes, finally noticing the encouraging start of further greening. . . until, maybe about 10 minutes later . . . VOILA! Total coverage/success! I can't tell you what I hero I felt like! S/he eclosed normally! Try it! ~ Jo-Ann Langseth