Silkworm Eggs Information Guide

Peaceful Silkworm eggs are currently refrigerated and will begin to hatch approximately 10 days after receiving them in the mail.

Un-refrigerated silkworm eggs naturally hatch out from late July to early August or later in Australia depending on the region.  The eggs are stimulated to develop in early spring when the temperature rises in your area.

Please ensure you have adequate mulberry leaves to feed your silkworms. Although fresh mulberry leaf is always best and cheapest,  Silkworm ‘food’ otherwise known as ‘chow’ is also available and can be used to feed silkworms at any time of year.

The first instar worms (just hatched before their first moult) need fresh immature tips or shoots.  Mature mulberry leaves are too tough for hatchlings – new shoots continue to grow through the season, so pick leaves close to the growing tips of the branches.

Please note that feeding mature leaves to hatchlings will result the death of your hatchlings – if you cannot source immature leaf then please purchase some Silkworm Chow!

Happy Silkworm Farming!

Silkworm Care Instructions

• When your Silkworm Eggs arrive – place in a warm spot out of direct sunlight in a snap lid container to protect from other creatures.
• A clear or opaque container is preferable as the eggs need light and dark to develop properly (please see rearing guide)
• Do not return eggs to cold storage as the hatchlings have begun to develop and will die.
• Check the eggs every day for hatchlings
• Do not place mulberry shoots in with the eggs as will potentially cause mould
• When the 1st instar Silkies begin to hatch place a tender mulberry leaf into the container
• A clean fine paintbrush can be used to lift and move the 1st instar Silkies onto the leaves if necessary
• Use immature mulberry leaf until the Silkworms have shed their first furry baby skin and are in their second Instar, at this stage they will be able to eat more mature mulberry leaves, if possible chop the leaves up finely
• The best mulberry leaf for Silkworms are the large healthy soft bright green mature leaves – discard any leaves with dry spots.
• If children are to handle the silkworms, ensure hands are washed and dry
• Silkworms eat fresh leaves constantly – and will eat continuously if the food is available – they sometimes rest during the night, if it is cold or when shedding their skin
• Cardboard boxes are the ideal Silkworm home as the Silkies can be lifted out into a fresh box once a week at least.
• Be mindful if your area has high humidity – bacteria can grow in a silkworm colony under these conditions – in this case change the box twice weekly and keep a close watch for mould developing amongst the frass (droppings) and leaf scraps
• If using a Terrarium wash thoroughly with a fragrance free biodegradable soap once a week and dry completely in the sun before returning the Silkies to their home
• At the cocooning stage it is important to provide an ideal place for the Silkies to spin, Children love to make toilet paper roll stacks, and these can be placed against the inside of the box, the base of egg cartons are excellent too.
• When the Silkies have finished spinning, an adult should remove all cocoons and place in a clean box
• It is best not to handle the cocoons after this
• Check the cocoons daily – the moths should hatch around two weeks later
• The moths do not eat or drink or fly away
• If you plan to collect the eggs line the box with paper for easy removal and place the moths all together in the box
• The moths will mate directly after hatching the females will then climb the walls of the box and lay their eggs
• It can be helpful to the female moths if the males are removed from the box when mating is completed allowing the females to lay their eggs in peace
• The moths will all die naturally after the mating and egg-laying is over
• Take the paper off the box, fold and place in a storage jar
• Around mid winter next year place the eggs in a sealed snap lock bag – return to the jar and place in the fridge,
• Remove the eggs from the fridge a few weeks before you require them to hatch

Happy Silkworm Farming!

Silkworm Lifecycle

Silkworms hatch naturally in Australia from Early July depending on the region you live in, they amazingly coincide their hatching with the first emergence of leaves on the local mulberry trees!

They do not all emerge at the same time but a batch of eggs can continuously hatch over a 6 week (or longer) period which is why it is best to refrigerate eggs for the last few months to give them a even temperature, helping them to hatch within the same week period.

The first hatchlings are dark and furry looking! this is the first ‘INSTAR’, there is 5 INSTARS separated by four MOULTS of their skin.

The silkworms happily stay in a box or cage and eat the leaves fed to them, they do not escape but WILL crawl a small distance if they can not find any food.

After the 4th and last MOULT and the last period of growth in which the silkworm devours huge amounts of mulberry leaves, it begins to spin a cocoon around itself. This can take over 24 hours for it to complete. The silkworm uses one continuous strand up to 900 metres long.

They also do unusual things like spin a cocoon with a friend, or get confused and spin a flat mat underneath themselves, but most of the worms will create for themselves a perfect ovate cocoon.

Inside the cocoon the silkworm MOULTS for the last time when it becomes a PUPA.

This is the stage in the silkworm industry that the cocoons are baked or boiled to kill the pupa, then each cocoon is ‘REELED’.  This is when one continuous strand of silk is unwound from each cocoon, either by hand or by a machine – then 6-8 of these strands are twisted together to create one thread of silk. Often the cooked PUPAS are eaten and in some countries are a valuable source of protein.

AT PEACEFUL SILKWORMS EVERY MOTH IS ALLOWED TO HATCH FROM ITS COCOON.

Each Silkworm stays in its cocoon for about two weeks then hatches inside the cocoon from its pupa skin, the moth then secretes a PROTEIN SALIVA that ‘melts’ open the SERICIN of the cocoon so it can push itself out.

Once out the moth dries its wings and finds a mate, the females are larger than the males as their abdomens are full of unfertilised eggs.

Soon after mating the female lays her eggs – between 200 – 500 individual eggs.  As the moths do not eat or drink they die naturally soon after laying their eggs, the males may mate with more than one female before they die.

The eggs remain in a state called DIAPAUSE until they have been through a period of cold (winter). When the temperature rises in spring they begin to develop and hatch ready to eat the first tender shoots on the Mulberry trees.

All BOMBYX MORI Silkworms are DOMESTICATED and cannot survive on their own in the wild. They can not hang on strongly and will blow or fall out of trees.  As they cannot travel far they will starve to death on the ground or be eaten, so please do not set your silkworms ‘free’. The moths have reduced mouth parts and cannot eat or fly and both worms and moths lack fear of predators.

Some species of silkworms harvested for their silk are still wild.

De-gumming Recipe

This recipe is for 100 cocoons, if you have less, halve the recipe and only use enough solution to ensure your cocoons are floating and covered

1/2 cup of biodegradable liquid soap (Dr Bronners liquid soap is fantastic AND organic)

1/4 cup bicarbonate soda

1.5 litres of pure clear water

Method

combine soap, bicarb and water well, place in a large stainless steel pot and heat gently till solution is steaming/gently simmering but not boiling, maintain this temperature, do not allow solution to boil as it will tangle your silk

add cocoons (trimmed and with contents removed) use a clean wooden spoon to help immerse them in the solution but DO NOT STIR as your silk will become a lump of tangled fibres!

simmer for approx 30-45minutes

when the cocoons have de-gummed successfully they will fluff out in the solution, if you remove one and rinse it under running water, it should come up white with no trace of yellow sericin

carefully pour off the solution and rinse with pure water, it takes a lot of rinsing so continue until there is no trace of soap left in the silk,

when the silk is fully rinsed leave it floating in a few inches of water and add a few capfulls of organic vinegar, leave this to sit for half an hour

rinse again and squeeze gently to remove water, hang in an shady airy place to dry, this can take up to 24 hours

for spinning, pull out and fluff up a cocoon and draft to desired thickness, then spin!

Cocoon Cleaning Instructions

Using a clean sharp pair of nail scissors take a cocoon and trim around the emergence hole at the end, neatly snipping off the rim of silk in a circular motion, only cut off the few millimetres damaged by the moths saliva. Next use the tip of the scissors to scoop out the worm and pupa skins and lastly shake out any flakes. Repeat for all cocoons before degumming.