Monday, April 29, 2019

MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

For about 6 or 7 years Doug has had a mesh cage for Monarch caterpillars.  The problem is that the Asian wasps attack the caterpillars and kill them so we put them into the cage with some Swan Plant, a type of milkweed.







Apart from saving the caterpillars from the wasps it also means that if the weather is bad the butterflies can be kept in the cage for a day or two and then released.  Doug didn't count the number of butterflies released this year but last year it was over 300





5 comments:

  1. What a wonderful job Doug is doing. It must be a delightful pleasure to open the cage door and watching them all take flight.

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  2. The pictures with the butterflies are lovely!
    Kudos to Doug for his efforts regarding butterfly safety!

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  3. Our garden is full of Monarch Butterflies. Wonderful.

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  4. What a lovely idea your Doug had! When I was docent at the local butterfly hall, all of our haul came in the form of chrysalises. They were put into a temperature controlled 'hut' until the butterflies emerged. I believe the temp. was 78F/25C. It seemed to do the trick as nary a butterfly was lost.

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