Bushel Of Fun Blog

 BBTB Painted Lady Butterfly Project

What a great experience we had here at the Books by the Bushel. Looking at the previous years with how Covid had affected things in many businesses. Most had foreseen ramping up their online and social media activity, bringing their customers into what is happening more behind the scenes. We had, and still currently, brainstormed for ways to interact with our beloved customers. This is what brought us to growing the Painted Lady's project. It was an exciting team-building project as well. Once the kit was ordered through amazon, our team anxiously waited to see them arrive in the mail. Finally, the day had come, and curiosity was in full motion.

Arrival Day

We each submitted a name we felt would fit our project. Considering we only purchased five caterpillars and we have eleven team members. We had to do a hat draw. The names chosen were Crunchy, Felicia, Fitzwilliam, Poppy, and Simon. Our team set up their habitat, and we were ready to start observing. We paired up this project with our book, The Life Cycle of Butterflies, written by Judy Burris and Wayne Richards

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At first, the caterpillars had to be observed from the jar they arrived in. They were about an inch in length and dark-colored with fuzzy hairs on their back. Nothing too distinctive about them yet. We noticed they would be particularly active in the morning and slow down throughout the day. Eat and sleep is what several of us would say they did. 

The interest grew immensely over the next couple of days as the caterpillars started to hang from the jar's lid. Curling into a "j" like figure and no longer moving about among the food. Periodically our team members would come in throughout the day to observe if any changes had occurred. Until one morning, we came in from the weekend to be very surprised. All of the caterpillars had morphed into the chrysalis stage. Four had made a secure webbing to hold onto the lid, and one had taken stage within the bottom of the jar among the food. The appearance of a gray-like shell with tiny gold specks now covered the "j" shaped caterpillar.

We had read that waiting an excellent solid three days would ensure the chrysalides were safe to move to the next part of the habitat. Removing the lid and placing them upright in a base provided. We needed to clear any extra webbing away from the chrysalides to prevent wing tangling once they were ready to emerge. Which was said to be in seven to ten days.

Now we wait.

Our team continuously checked on them throughout the week. Occasionally the chrysalides would shake and wiggle to "warn off danger" if we observed them too close. It was funny and fascinating to watch how this life process works. Imagine being out in nature and having no way to warn off your predators other than wiggling. Some say the chrysalides look like jewelry pieces from the gold sparkle specks. What if we were in ancient times and had no idea that this chrysalis was a living creature? What a surprise you would have once it broke free! 

Oh no!

A few days had passed, and to our excitement, Friday was a new stage for one of our chrysalides. A butterfly had emerged and was resting on the side of the lid. We noticed it was the darker one of the five. We had missed it! That morning we knew it was still in chrysalis form, and within a matter of minutes, we had a butterfly. We mixed up the "nectar" of sugar and water and soaked the sponge in the flower dish so that the butterfly would have it when ready. The other four were still holding strong and didn't show any signs of wanting to change, so we left the office for the weekend. Only to return Monday and find that the other four had made their appearance, and five butterflies were latched to the sides of the habitat. Sadly, we had missed all the transformations. But it was fantastic to see all the butterflies doing well in their netted habitat. Our team decided they should have a couple of days to dry out their wings and eat before releasing them. 

Releasing Day

Even though not all went as we had hoped for, the Books by the Bushel team really enjoyed this project. On our final day with our butterflies, we gathered outside and watched them fly off to find their new habitat in someone's garden. 

I imagine and hope they will bring someone else joy where there is a garden full of Hollyhocks, Verbena, and Coneflowers. So next time you are out and about and spot a Painted Lady butterfly, it could be one of our own Books by the Bushel's friends Crunchy, Felicia, Fitzwilliam, Poppy, or Simon.