Releasing..

[psi_chemie]

This morning around 8:00 I had my first emergence- a beautiful female monarch, medium-size.

In about 20 minutes she had pumped out here wings, and after about 4 hours, she was rather restless, crawling around and flapping. This continued until I decided it was best to release her. So I slapped on a tag and took her out to a field. She held on to my finger with the wind blowing for a little while, and then made her first flight, about 25 yards, to land on a stem, where I waved goodbye.

I was wondering if this was a bit to early of a release? Also, I've read on this site that you can release them the next day. But, this monarch was so active in its cage that I thought keeping it overnight would be stressfull to it. Any thoughts on this? I have seven more on the way.

[dzyg]

If I have one that is flapping around too much I will release it also but usually in my butterfly cage they pretty much go to the top and hang for the day. I usually will release the ones that emerge in the morning around 3PM in the afternoon. Unless it is raining or very very windy, then I keep them until the next morning.

[Keith Petrosky]

As long as they can fly good and it is a clear day then you can release them.

[Teresa]

I often release them like that. They emerge in the morning and I release them a few hours, especially if they are active and flapping around. You did good

[SWAMPMILKWEED]

I was told by a curator at the Butterfly House of Whitehouse, OH that they can be released as soon as they show an "inclinatin to fly," that is if the weather is good. That settled a long standing question of mine, too.

[MONA]

I released 15 monarchs between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. today (9/20/05). They emerged between 8am and 9:30 a.m. They were all ready to fly at about noon. Does the humidity/heat have anything to do with when by monarchs are ready to be released? I almost felt guilty about holding them in the flight cage until 6:00 p.m. I was waiting for Savannah, my monarch helper who was 6 years old today, to help release them. Will this hurt them? They all flew away and perched in nearby trees. I wonder if I'll have new eggs on my milkweed this weekend.