Wow! These guys can eat! These pictures are from about two weeks ago, when I noticed that there were DOZENS of Monarch butterfly caterpillars on a tropical milkweed out in the veggie garden that had eaten every leaf on the plant. Here’s a video snippet (1 min) of that plant:
So by snipping off the bare branches loaded with baby Monarchs, I relocated them to a milkweed that had plenty of leaves. They crawled off, eating all the way! The lesson here, same as last year: Plant more milkweed! Below are some pics of the relocated caterpillars…
And here is a tiny video (1 min) after the successful relocation:
Postscript to this story: Since the receiving milkweed plant is right beside the front patio, our front porch is now festooned with little leaf-green cocoons dotted with gold. We kept one (which was on a leaf I accidentally plucked) in a jar with a coffee filter over the top, till it emerged and we released the most perfect Monarch into a gorgeous September day.
Fly hard towards Mexico beautiful friends!
3 Comments
I was a witness to the monarch migration two years ago- the tree outside of the lakehouse we were staying in was covered in monarchs. So cool to see where they start their journey.
That is amazing! I will plant some milkweed next year for sure (my list is growing by leaps and bounds).
Whew! I was afraid the problem with the pictures was due to my computer. So glad to see the girls and how well they are doing. I’ve forgotten anything I knew about raising chickens so don’t know how long before you start getting eggs.
Don’t you just love the buitterfly weed. Not only is it beautiful, but is such a great host plant for the monarchs. How neat that you got see see one hatch and then release it to carry on the cycle of life. Thanks for sharing!