Leaves vs. chow
I always tell my customers, why use chow when you have free food all around you. Yes, mulberry trees proliferate in the US. My customers in PA, OH, IA, and WA tell me that they have trees on their properties. What makes you think you don’t already have a tree nearby? Raising silkworms on free leaves is the simplest and THE BEST thing you can do for your silkworms and your prized pets. I don’t need to talk more about the tree itself; this you can google on your own. I do want to tell you, that they grow like weeds here. The birds eat the fruits and fly to a nearby fence or to another tree, or cross the state line. Their droppings are everywhere. Each mulberry fruit has nearly a hundred seeds. The seeds overwinter and next thing you know, your flower garden or your lilac tree gets choked up by it. That is exactly what happened to me and my neighbors. Only, I chopped down the lilac tree, and my neighbor hacked her weedy mulberry. (At least for this season, for it will only come back stronger every year thanks to the incredibly tenacious roots.) However, breeding silkworms using leaves has tremendous challenges as the kegos require FRESH, tender leaflets at all times including night time, and the 5th instars require constant, nonstop feeding in order to spin silk. If starved, they may not emerge as moths even if they get to cocoon. This is when they eat 80% of their life long consumption, which means, you are constantly running out to pick leaves. . When they eat, they sound like rain drops falling on your roof. With 1000 silkworms chewing on leaves, they sound like a hailstorm!
If you would like to know exactly what mulberry leaves look like and go on a hunt for this wonderful resource, purchase a bagful from me along with your order of silks. Nine out of ten customers did!
If you do choose to rear them on leaves, which I do in the summer time, make sure the source is pesticide free. Do this by testing one or two silks, and observe them for 5 minutes. It is a wretched, writhing and painful death for the silks. The leaves must be free of residue and dry. Wetness can cause diarrhea and make them sick. Not all mulberry leaves are equal. Stay away from the rusty ones. Try to prewash the leaves before feeding. Some do carry parasites that may be harmful to the silkworms.
In the summer time, my silkworms will be packed with abundant leaves in their container for the trip to your house. This sets me apart from the other suppliers. Even with the heat and humidity, my customers rarely experience DOA’s because leaves simply do not cause the kinds of issues that chow does and the silkworms raised on leaves are just much healthier. (See the testimonial page.)
Chow is the next best alternative to mulberry leaves. The silkworm cannot thrive on anything other than mulberry. There is a certain flavonoid in the mulberries that the silkworms are attracted to. All of the chows are imports. The Chinese sericulture sector spent billions on R&D to develop this product to boost the silk industry. Chow contains other added products such as preservatives and fillers, but nonetheless, the silkworms raised on chow breed successfully. The problem with chow is that it is a great medium for mold growth and spreads bacteria easily. You need to exercise pristine caution when using chow and always, always properly sanitize your husbandry before the next rearing as pathogens can and will built up.
At times the silkworms may seem to stop eating altogether. It happens when there is an overabundance of food and they have learned to become ‘picky’. You may blow at them to ‘wake them up’ or feed them fresh food. In essence, you will most likely end up wasting some chow.
Raising silkworms on leaves:
By the time you receive your order, the leaves will have been picked clean. The silkworms took quite a beating on the road and are probably dehydrated. They need to be fed right away to perk up. Remove the silkworms and place them into a container. It can be a shoebox or a tupperware container. Make sure it is dry and clean. Place the leaves directly on top of the silks. One leaf for 3 medium sized silks. Feed them twice a day to sustain them. Never put the silkworms in the refrigerator. Prolonged exposure will kill them, guaranteed (say, in about 3 days). Put the bagful leaves away in the refrigerator. You may mist them if you want, but make sure the leaves you feed are dry. Feeds lots if you want them to grow large. These fresh leaves will also help you to locate a mulberry tree nearby. They are pesticide free, but there are also no ways for me to tell if they carry potential harmful spores or parasites. However, parasites and virus harmful to silkworms are not known to be harmful to any other animals including humans. Here is some wonderful information from Sue Kayton on her highly ranked website.
Raising silkworms on chow
Without chow, there will be no silkworms for your prized pets during the winter time. The ratio is 2 water to 1 dry powder. They are fairly easy to prepare and both wet and dry should be stored in the refrigerator. Place wax paper over the silkworms directly to preserve chow. Using my chow-in-a-bag, simply cut away the tip as you go and squeeze all over the silks. When feeding to kegos, make the tiniest opening at the tip and squeeze all over. Feed them about 3-4x times a day. There is no need to pick up the kegos with a brush nor your hands. Just squeeze directly over them until they are half inch long, then you may remove them and place over a mesh. The chow strings will dry up as it goes and resemble clumps of ramen noodles. There is enough air and spacing for the kegos to climb upwards, so there really is NO NEED to pick them up. Do place a screen mesh underneath them when you can to screen out frass. The Chow-in- a-Bag is super convenient to use. No hands. No grating. Just clean, sterile chow every time. The dry chow is a new formula different from what's currently available in the market and according to the manufacturer, it is less smelly.
Hatching Eggs
The eggs will hatch at the proper temperature, give or take two weeks. Keep them at 78 degrees and have a glass of water or wet sponge next to them. As soon as they are hatched, feed them young, tender leaves that are about an inch wide. You may have to get up several times at night to check on them and to brush them, if you are not using the black box technique. (You may find more info on my fan page). A hatchling may not be able to crawl 2 inches to get to a leaflet and will dry up and die within hours. You may have to move them by a soft brush (preferrably a cosmetic brush over an artist brush) or lay the tender leaves very close to them. You can try older or larger leaves but cut up them into little pieces if no tender leaves are readily available. If hatching on chow, use the piping bag and squeeze the chow where ever the hatchlings are. They will crawl onto the chow to eat and feed as much as you can, day and night if you see that the chow strips are drying out. Air dry the old chow completely after every two to four days (depending on your climate) to prevent problems. Do not overcrowd the hatchlings. In general, silkworms will climb upwards to eat fresh food, however, some hatchlings maybe a ‘rest’ stage (getting ready to shed skin) and will remain dormant for a day. Be careful not to crush them with too many leaves. Chow will just dry into a rack over time. Hatchlings really do require a lot of tending to and is not for everyone. When using chow, be sure to be as sterile as you can. Most of time, your silkworms raised on chow won't get to cocoon stage thanks for the overwhelming build up of pathogens ingested through bacterial laden chow. But of course, raising from eggs are the most economical way to go, if you are tenacious and practice due diligence.
The best method of rearing silkworms is to use chow for the first 1st instar and switch over to clean, fresh leaves. This minimizes labor as well as reduces the potential for pathogenic invasion, which is usually the cause for die offs in a culture. Raise them as a brood instead.
I always tell my customers, why use chow when you have free food all around you. Yes, mulberry trees proliferate in the US. My customers in PA, OH, IA, and WA tell me that they have trees on their properties. What makes you think you don’t already have a tree nearby? Raising silkworms on free leaves is the simplest and THE BEST thing you can do for your silkworms and your prized pets. I don’t need to talk more about the tree itself; this you can google on your own. I do want to tell you, that they grow like weeds here. The birds eat the fruits and fly to a nearby fence or to another tree, or cross the state line. Their droppings are everywhere. Each mulberry fruit has nearly a hundred seeds. The seeds overwinter and next thing you know, your flower garden or your lilac tree gets choked up by it. That is exactly what happened to me and my neighbors. Only, I chopped down the lilac tree, and my neighbor hacked her weedy mulberry. (At least for this season, for it will only come back stronger every year thanks to the incredibly tenacious roots.) However, breeding silkworms using leaves has tremendous challenges as the kegos require FRESH, tender leaflets at all times including night time, and the 5th instars require constant, nonstop feeding in order to spin silk. If starved, they may not emerge as moths even if they get to cocoon. This is when they eat 80% of their life long consumption, which means, you are constantly running out to pick leaves. . When they eat, they sound like rain drops falling on your roof. With 1000 silkworms chewing on leaves, they sound like a hailstorm!
If you would like to know exactly what mulberry leaves look like and go on a hunt for this wonderful resource, purchase a bagful from me along with your order of silks. Nine out of ten customers did!
If you do choose to rear them on leaves, which I do in the summer time, make sure the source is pesticide free. Do this by testing one or two silks, and observe them for 5 minutes. It is a wretched, writhing and painful death for the silks. The leaves must be free of residue and dry. Wetness can cause diarrhea and make them sick. Not all mulberry leaves are equal. Stay away from the rusty ones. Try to prewash the leaves before feeding. Some do carry parasites that may be harmful to the silkworms.
In the summer time, my silkworms will be packed with abundant leaves in their container for the trip to your house. This sets me apart from the other suppliers. Even with the heat and humidity, my customers rarely experience DOA’s because leaves simply do not cause the kinds of issues that chow does and the silkworms raised on leaves are just much healthier. (See the testimonial page.)
Chow is the next best alternative to mulberry leaves. The silkworm cannot thrive on anything other than mulberry. There is a certain flavonoid in the mulberries that the silkworms are attracted to. All of the chows are imports. The Chinese sericulture sector spent billions on R&D to develop this product to boost the silk industry. Chow contains other added products such as preservatives and fillers, but nonetheless, the silkworms raised on chow breed successfully. The problem with chow is that it is a great medium for mold growth and spreads bacteria easily. You need to exercise pristine caution when using chow and always, always properly sanitize your husbandry before the next rearing as pathogens can and will built up.
At times the silkworms may seem to stop eating altogether. It happens when there is an overabundance of food and they have learned to become ‘picky’. You may blow at them to ‘wake them up’ or feed them fresh food. In essence, you will most likely end up wasting some chow.
Raising silkworms on leaves:
By the time you receive your order, the leaves will have been picked clean. The silkworms took quite a beating on the road and are probably dehydrated. They need to be fed right away to perk up. Remove the silkworms and place them into a container. It can be a shoebox or a tupperware container. Make sure it is dry and clean. Place the leaves directly on top of the silks. One leaf for 3 medium sized silks. Feed them twice a day to sustain them. Never put the silkworms in the refrigerator. Prolonged exposure will kill them, guaranteed (say, in about 3 days). Put the bagful leaves away in the refrigerator. You may mist them if you want, but make sure the leaves you feed are dry. Feeds lots if you want them to grow large. These fresh leaves will also help you to locate a mulberry tree nearby. They are pesticide free, but there are also no ways for me to tell if they carry potential harmful spores or parasites. However, parasites and virus harmful to silkworms are not known to be harmful to any other animals including humans. Here is some wonderful information from Sue Kayton on her highly ranked website.
Raising silkworms on chow
Without chow, there will be no silkworms for your prized pets during the winter time. The ratio is 2 water to 1 dry powder. They are fairly easy to prepare and both wet and dry should be stored in the refrigerator. Place wax paper over the silkworms directly to preserve chow. Using my chow-in-a-bag, simply cut away the tip as you go and squeeze all over the silks. When feeding to kegos, make the tiniest opening at the tip and squeeze all over. Feed them about 3-4x times a day. There is no need to pick up the kegos with a brush nor your hands. Just squeeze directly over them until they are half inch long, then you may remove them and place over a mesh. The chow strings will dry up as it goes and resemble clumps of ramen noodles. There is enough air and spacing for the kegos to climb upwards, so there really is NO NEED to pick them up. Do place a screen mesh underneath them when you can to screen out frass. The Chow-in- a-Bag is super convenient to use. No hands. No grating. Just clean, sterile chow every time. The dry chow is a new formula different from what's currently available in the market and according to the manufacturer, it is less smelly.
Hatching Eggs
The eggs will hatch at the proper temperature, give or take two weeks. Keep them at 78 degrees and have a glass of water or wet sponge next to them. As soon as they are hatched, feed them young, tender leaves that are about an inch wide. You may have to get up several times at night to check on them and to brush them, if you are not using the black box technique. (You may find more info on my fan page). A hatchling may not be able to crawl 2 inches to get to a leaflet and will dry up and die within hours. You may have to move them by a soft brush (preferrably a cosmetic brush over an artist brush) or lay the tender leaves very close to them. You can try older or larger leaves but cut up them into little pieces if no tender leaves are readily available. If hatching on chow, use the piping bag and squeeze the chow where ever the hatchlings are. They will crawl onto the chow to eat and feed as much as you can, day and night if you see that the chow strips are drying out. Air dry the old chow completely after every two to four days (depending on your climate) to prevent problems. Do not overcrowd the hatchlings. In general, silkworms will climb upwards to eat fresh food, however, some hatchlings maybe a ‘rest’ stage (getting ready to shed skin) and will remain dormant for a day. Be careful not to crush them with too many leaves. Chow will just dry into a rack over time. Hatchlings really do require a lot of tending to and is not for everyone. When using chow, be sure to be as sterile as you can. Most of time, your silkworms raised on chow won't get to cocoon stage thanks for the overwhelming build up of pathogens ingested through bacterial laden chow. But of course, raising from eggs are the most economical way to go, if you are tenacious and practice due diligence.
The best method of rearing silkworms is to use chow for the first 1st instar and switch over to clean, fresh leaves. This minimizes labor as well as reduces the potential for pathogenic invasion, which is usually the cause for die offs in a culture. Raise them as a brood instead.