If you have milkweed plants in your yard, you can hatch and rear your own monarch butterflies. (We've had quite a hatchery running at our house this summer. We keep bringing in new leaves to feed the existing caterpillars, and then finding new eggs on those leaves, which hatch into caterpillars that have to be fed...)

The tiny eggs are laid on the underside of milkweed leaves. The newly hatched caterpillars start out very small, but they grow quickly. (They have to shed their skin to grow, but you almost never see cast-off skins. Why? They eat 'em.) The caterpillars go through five growth stages, or instars, and look a little bit different after each one. And you know that book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Well, it's no exaggeration. These caterpillars are hungry. But they don't eat fruit and sausages and slices of cherry pie; they ONLY eat milkweed leaves. (Monarch life cycle)

When they've eaten all they can eat, they form chrysalises. And they remain there for about two weeks. Eventually, the new butterfly struggles free, dries out for a while, and then flies away to start the whole process all over again.

If you're lucky enough to find a milkweed leaf with a monarch egg on it, bring it in and try raising the butterfly. We keep ours in jelly jars: we put a damp paper towel in the bottom, and replace the lid insert with a small piece of window screening or another paper towel. You'll need to clean the jar and replace the bottom paper towel at least once a day, and probably feed your caterpillar twice a day. (Remember: they don't eat anything except milkweed.) When your caterpillar seems huge, and has developed long antennae, put a stick or something in the jar so it can climb to the top. It will hang from the paper towel or the window screening in sort of a "j" shape. And within a day or so, it will have become a pupa. Pupae are sort of boring, but after about two weeks, the green pupa will turn black, and you might be able to see the pattern and color of a monarch wing through it. That means your butterfly is close to hatching, and if you're lucky, you might see it. (Here's a video in case you miss it; we missed it 8 times this summer!) Once it's hatched, your butterfly needs a few hours for its wings to dry and harden. You should keep it in the jar for at least 5-6 hours, or as many as 24. And then you just unscrew the lid, and watch your butterfly take off on its maiden flight. Very, super cool.

Tons of monarch links

I bought som milkweed today and in school my class is trying to raise monarch butterflys in class two or three died. I brought mine home today. One is almost ready to turn into a chrstails and one has already been in a chrstails four days already and I hope it will hatch at my house because I think that if I let it go at my house it might keep coming. I really hope it's a girl so it can lay more eggs.

I love the info on the special generationa and the ablity of the it.