We've been raising monarch butterflies for years. I actually dug up some milkweed & planted them in a flowerbed with phlox, echinachea, & columbine. Yes the milkweed takes over, but the other flowers fight back. Make sure you get milkweed from a place where it's considered a "weed" & not a protected "prairie plant." A prairie preserve is not a good place to dig. LOL Don't bother with seed pods - low success. If you ask around someone will likely (& happily) allow you to dig some up.
Once the milkweed is established (usually the next summer), we harvest the eggs by snipping the leaf around each egg. The ants & other insects tend to do harm to the tiny monarch eggs & caterpillars. By putting about 8-10 eggs in a babyfood jar with a paper towel/ rubber band lid, then adding about 1/2 milkweed leaf daily, we get a very good hatch. In the beginning, it's impossible to handle the caterpillars. = only as fat as a thread! We just add milkweed daily until they're big enough to see easily. At about 1 week, we transfer the larvae to a bigger aquarium. As my preschooler explained, "They eat & eat & eat. And poop & poop & poop." For this reason, I like an easy to clean plastic container for daily dumping & refilling with milkweed. When about 4cm long & looking very FAT, the larvae climb upward. I like to have a paper towel covering the top. The larvae attach to the paper towel top & hang upside down like a J. Once they wiggle their skin off (the final molt) & harden into the pretty green chrysails, I remove the paper towel & hang it with a safety pin in our butterfly house. About 10-14 days later, they hatch out butterflies. The kids observe the wings to tell me the gender & of course they must name them. We used to take a photo of each (that way my daughter could have them FOREVER & still let them go). Because we hatch 60-200 each summer, she thankfully gave up on that idea after 2 years.
I use what we have on hand, so the cost is always free. The painted lady kits are very expensive. I recommend using a pop up hamper for a butterfly house. If you have a little talent, use 2 embroidery hoops, some tulle from a fabric store & a cardboard pizza circle to make a fancy hanging butterfly house. (I made a long 10ft cylinder to hang from my classroom ceiling.) There are a few programs that you can sign up for to help track migration, but I feel our hands on approach actually increases their local population. We do not pay $ to participate in those programs, but I have started other families in raising milkweed & monarchs. Last summer we raised 75 at home, but together we raised & released well over 200.
My friend at the zoo likes to make a bouquet of small milkweed plants in a vase with water (under an upside down pop up hamper). She leaves the caterpillars on the leaves. Less fuss, but a lot of poop if you raise the large numbers as we do. Black Swallowtails are another easy to raise & impressive species. Plant some dill & they will find you. The only trouble= we sometimes get parasitic wasps. (Not fun to spend a month raising caterpillars to hatch out a wasp instead.)
My last tip is for taking photos. Take the pics about 1-2 hrs after hatching before they're expert flyers. If needed, dip fingers in sugar water to encourage butterflies to stay on your hand.
Female blk swallowtail (males have yellow)
Male monarch on DD's head (2 black spots on lower wings = male)
We have a ton of milkweed on my property and the neighboring property, anyone that wants to come get some is welcome. We will be exterminating it in the Spring as it is poisonous to horses and is mostly in the pastures. So you will need to get it this year. Let me know if anyone want to come get some!
