Silkie project 1.0

I bought a small batch (250) of silkworm eggs a while back and since my boy didn't eat even close to half, I figured I'd try to breed some. So far, it's going great!

I cut up some empty toilet paper and paper towel tubes, taped them to the sides of a container and transferred all the worms today at lunch. After realizing I had WAY more worms than paper tubes, I added in some egg crates to make sure they all had a place to spin cocoons if they chose to do so.

When I left at lunch, I had 6 or 7 cocoons. As of tonight, I'm closer to 15. It's amazing!

Pictures should be of the container before worms and the last two are with the worms. I'm stoked that they took to the container and started spinning almost as soon as I put them in there! Can't wait to see the next phase!

So cool! Please keep us updated!

I can't stand it anymore--I have to say something!

A "Silkie" is a breed of chicken that is one of the oldest breeds in the world. Marco Polo talked about them.

A Silkie is not a caterpillar.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkie

I love my silkworms. Easy to take care of and they don't smell or make noise. I also love my little Silkies. They give me eggs and are a lot messier and noisier than any silkworm colony.

cute chicken

Is that the cute kind of shaggy chicken I see from time to time?

greenwitch7 said:

Is that the cute kind of shaggy chicken I see from time to time?

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Yes, they don't have the barbs on their feathers that hold the feather together into a flat plane, so they are fluffy like fur. Feathers are held together by barbs similar to Velcro. Marco Polo referred to them as the chickens that had fur like a cat.

And, yes, they really are a very cute and sweet little chicken.

haha, good to know about silkies vs. silkworms...

Loosepin: How long did it take for your eggs to turn into worms that size? I am currently trying silks for the first time and just had the first batch of 40 or so hatch out.

ChameLIonLover said:

haha, good to know about silkies vs. silkworms...

Loosepin: How long did it take for your eggs to turn into worms that size? I am currently trying silks for the first time and just had the first batch of 40 or so hatch out.

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It took about a month, give or take. I found a ton of good info at http://www.wormspit.com/tinymasters.htm. That may not be the exact link, but it goes into great detail about the phases and when to expect cocoons and what follows. It's well worth it, IMO, and not too hard...as of now anyway.

Good luck!

Is it possible to switch a worm from mulberry leaves to chow? I find it would be easier to raise the tiny Kegos on leaves but wouldn't have enough right now to keep them going... so I was wondering if it's possible to switch them over to chow as they grow older?

Andee said:

Is it possible to switch a worm from mulberry leaves to chow? I find it would be easier to raise the tiny Kegos on leaves but wouldn't have enough right now to keep them going... so I was wondering if it's possible to switch them over to chow as they grow older?

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That's what I do--start the babies on leaves.

I find it easy to move them using leaves. I just put a leaf in the petri dish and in a short period of time, they've gravitated to it and I just pick it up and put it in their new home. I keep laying pieces of fresh leaf on top of any that are left and continue until the stragglers have all hatched and I've moved them. Don't know how I'll move them in the winter.

When I want to switch them to chow, I smear a thin layer of chow on the leaves. I have not had a problem switching them back and forth between leaves and chow.

Thanks so much ^^

I just bought 1000 silkworm eggs. This is my first time attempting this. Those are some good sized silks. How old are they. And if you have any pointers id really appreciate it. Looks like you know what your doing.

Craigwyatt said:

I just bought 1000 silkworm eggs. This is my first time attempting this. Those are some good sized silks. How old are they. And if you have any pointers id really appreciate it. Looks like you know what your doing.

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They're about a month old, give or take a few days. And I didn't do anything special, promise. They'll eat as much as you feed them, but I wouldn't go longer than about 2 days between feedings if you can avoid it.

And one thing I learned the hard way: don't cover them completely in their container, especially if they're eating. Evidently they generate a lot of heat when they eat. I accidentally covered the container while feeding a batch about six months ago and woke to a slew of dead silkworms. Felt bad for sure, but it was a great learning experience.

If you want to do some more research, check out wormspit.com. Someone on the forum posted that link on here a while back, and it's full of great info. Like how many times they shed, what to look for when they're ready to spin, etc. it's a great resource.

Bottom line: they're pretty cool to raise and they're probably one of my favorite worms to have around.

Update!

It's been a couple weeks since I updated, so thought it might be time to do so. Most of the silkworms have spun cocoons, although I have a few stragglers and lost some that didn't spin. But, overall, I have quite a few cocoons and even some breeding moths right now.

There are a few pics attached. The first is the cocoons and worms in their "spinning" container. I figured out they like to bunch up - as many as 4 to a small tube - so I pulled all the cocoons out of that enclosure today and put them in a different container lined with paper towels (second pic). Once I did that, literally five hatched within the hour.

In the "breeding" container, I lined it with parchment paper and once the male and female are breeding, I placed a ring around them to give them some privacy. I noticed that other males would try to "interrupt" and didn't really think that would be conducive to the process. Also, I figure once the female is ready to lay, it'll help keep the eggs in one area instead of all over the place.

Anyway, hope ya'll enjoy as much as I have with the process!

I had some that just started spinning before I could feed off to my Cham. I ended up with about 15 cocoons and currently have 5 moths. There is definitely some eggs, few different colors. Light greenish when hey first are laid, then grey and some are even a purplish color. Does this mean their fertile? Some are stuck to the paper I had down and others are loose. I definitely had to separate the mating ones from the other males as they definitely try to "slip in"

Wowbango said:

I had some that just started spinning before I could feed off to my Cham. I ended up with about 15 cocoons and currently have 5 moths. There is definitely some eggs, few different colors. Light greenish when hey first are laid, then grey and some are even a purplish color. Does this mean their fertile? Some are stuck to the paper I had down and others are loose. I definitely had to separate the mating ones from the other males as they definitely try to "slip in"

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Everything I've read says that if they turn darker than when they are laid, they're fertile. So, from what I've studied, the eggs should be fertile so long as they turned darker than when they were laid. If they stayed the same color or turned white, then they'd be infertile.

This is my first go-round with this, so I'm by no means an expert, but it sounds like you've got fertile eggs.

I'll never understand why peoplease don't use silkworms more often. If you spend a little money on a tree, you get free silkworms forever. They are the easiest feeder to breed bar-none. The smallest egg clutch I've gotten was 200+ and average is 500 with leaves. There's absolutely nothing to it, the moths eclose, pump wings, males will sit there dead as a doorknob until a female ecloses. Within 5 minutes her wings are pumped, she starts calling, and every male within 30 feet is all of a sudden going ape, and she's literally locked up with a male in less than 6 minutes, and a few hours later, she will lay a few hundred eggs, she'll call again, breed for a little longer this time, then lay the rest. I always like to use a different male for the second breeding, and try to let every male in at least one rotation regardless of his size. I just started breeding, I may do a few egg giveaways In the future. I'm hoping to start selling eggs and trees next spring.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that sometimes you will get eggs that don't diapause and they take a lot longer to turn dark. I recently had this happen, where one moth laid eggs that didn't turn dark like the others. They went from yellow to white, a sign usually indicating fertility, and I cut them out of the paper with the intention of throwing away. 9 days passed and they were still white, the all of a sudden all went dark over a 2 day period, and today, day 16, they started to hatch. If they turn dark right away, they will usually need refridgeration, if they don't, I would hang onto them for at least 3 weeks before throwing them away.

Will the chow work for little babies? Or do you have to start them out on leaves?

I get tons of eggs but for some reason they never hatch for me! I don't know what I am doing wrong!

ridgebax1 said:

I get tons of eggs but for some reason they never hatch for me! I don't know what I am doing wrong!

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It could be too dry or too damp, temps etc. How long do you refrigerate them for? Like I said earlier, half my moths laid eggs that were yellow, then they turned white, which usually means they bad/infertile, but after ten or so days, they turned greenish, then dark then gray and hatched without refrigerating them. How do you do everything?