Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Chasen found some Black Swallowtail caterpillars in our parsley garden a few weeks ago. We decided to keep them and see if we could "grow" some butterflies! We had various sizes of caterpillars and they grew and formed cocoons at different times. It took about a week for a caterpillar to go from the cocoon to the butterfly stage. We have had 2 successful hatchings so far! The first hatching had a broken wing and could not fly. We released him into the garden and we saw him for a few days resting on the butterfly bush. We hope he found a good home.... The next butterfly allowed Chasen to hold him for a few minutes before learning to fly. These are the pictures that I have posted. The last butterfly flew right out of the cage and into a new life! We still have some cocoons being formed and one or two catipillars still eating all of the parsley we can feed them. I have really enjoyed this little project, maybe more than anyone else!