Chickens seem to be immortal, and piggies just need their feeders kept stocked. But butterflies seem to have really short lifespans, and the eggs are expensive to make. Any tricks I'm missing?
I have found that singing to them extends their lives for a little while but that does deplete energy very quickly. Daily singing does help though per butterfly.
Massaging also takes away from their life span! And milkers, since they frequently milk the butterflies really shorten the length of their lives. Ever since I stopped collecting from my milkers as frequently, less milk was being extracted from my butterflies, and now they have been living a lot longer.
Yes, what >^.^< said. If you don't massage or milk them, they live pretty much forever. If you don't empty your milker except when absolutely necessary, they won't use it, and continue on living. Singing extends lifespan, but it takes alot of singing to equal a little milking/massaging.
Good luck, and may Cosma bless your butterfly herd! (unless of course, she forgets, which she often does)