Ground Hog Day

The cycle is complete.
To my surprise I discovered that between 20-30 silkworm eggs  have hatched!
I can only attribute this to the fact that we have suddenly had some warm weather and that the way I have left the eggs I have unintentionally created an incubator.
Luckily, I found the new hatched silkworms very early and have been able to rehouse them and provide them with fresh leaves off our mulberry tree.

The rest of the unhatched eggs have been refrigerated until I can get them to their new owner.

Above is a photograph of  our mulberry tree.

It's not very large.

The chicken wire netting is to prevent possums from climbing into the tree and eating all the berries and to stop them from stripping the tree bare of leaves.

Six hundred and ninety nine silk cocoons.

Coming to an End.

Woke up yesterday morning, no silkworms or moths to attend to.
Felt a bit lost.
Today I spoke to my Second Son and he tells me that he has someone interested in taking the eggs to hatch next spring.
I am yet to find someone to take the 699 cocoons.
Before I find somewhere to send them off to I might experiment a little with some, see if i can unravel a bit of the silk.

Day Seventy Six

Arrived home from my three nights away to find that all the moths have died....

Day Seventy Five

Mr Honey Pie reports that it's still raining in Sydney and surrounds.
The weather on the south coast is not as wet as Sydney.  The mornings have been a bit iffy and then the afternoon clears to beautiful blue skies.
Back home tomorrow to tie up loose ends for the silkies, not much life can be left in the moths now.

Day Seventy Four

Today is the first day that I haven't been at home and therefore not seen the 'silkies', since day one.
Mr Honey Pie reports that their numbers are dwindling quickly.

I've been enjoying the sunshine while Sydney and surrounds continue to be inundated.

Day Seventy Three

I have left the the silkworm moths in the care of Mr Honey Pie while I take a short vacation.
This morning, no moths emerged and things seem to be a lot quieter than they have been for some weeks now.
I had the moths in their tank on the undercover verandah, in an attempt to keep the moth-wing dust down inside the house.
Later in the day I spoke to Mr Honey Pie by mobile phone and he told me that a stray moth got eaten up by a tree creeper that swooped down onto the verandah.
Perhaps Mr Honey Pie might have to draw the canvas awnings to keep predators away.

Day Seventy Two, Week 11

This morning saw no moths emerging.
I have been tossing some of the dead moths into the garden, thinking that perhaps the birds would find them to be a tasty morsel.
So you can imagine my surprise to see a water skink emerge from its hiding place and devour one of the moths I had only moments before discarded.  I watched from above, on the balcony, as the lizard ate another two of the moths.

The dust that the moths have generated is becoming more of a hazard each day.
This evening I spent over an  hour cleaning up a fine layer of white 'dust' off the dining room furniture, floor, and light fittings.

I'm now sworn to never having 'pets' in the house  again, as my airways are affected by the build up of  moth wing dust.

Day Seventy One

I removed handfuls of dead moths throughout the day today.
Remember that over one hundred moths emerged on days sixty one and sixty two.  So it makes sense that the moths should now be dying by the score.
By the time the moths are nearing their end, they become very ragged and their wings have lost their previous silky softness.
One lonesome moth emerged this morning
The dust build up from the moths' continually flapping wings is becoming a health hazard in the sense that it irritates my nasal passages and makes me cough.
As I suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease I can see that I'll be wearing some sort of dust mask (albeit home-made), to do what might be my penultimate clean up of the one remaining tank.

Day Seventy

Three emerging moths, many escapees, males mostly, eggs continue to be laid.
Not much else happening with the silkies...

Day Sixty Nine

Day Sixty Eight

Two more moths emerged today.
A few died and I image many, many, eggs were laid.

Day Sixty Seven

Only a handful of moths emerged this morning.
Can't be too many left.
It was time to clean up the tank this morning.
I've had overnight visitors so I'd already tidied up a bit by putting all the moths into one tank (instead of two).  The eggs have been removed periodically and kept in another empty and clean tank.
This way I can stack all the tanks atop one another so that the moths/cocoons/eggs take up less floor space.
I threw a lace tablecloth over the tank containing the moths, so that the mass of bodies was not open to full view.
This proved problematic because the female moths climbed to the top and laid eggs on the cloth!
This morning I lined another empty tank with clean paper and transferred all the moths to this tank.
The incessant wing flapping causes the moths' wings to slowly deteriorate so that their wings look ragged and shaggy.
The bottom of the tank gradually becomes covered in a downy dust that used to be the moths' wings.
Over the past few days I have found this to be a bit of a health hazard, causing hay fever like symptoms.
This I think, could be a serious health hazard for anyone suffering from respiratory illnesses.
Tonight, a male moth shocked us by taking flight.
He scurried across the dining room floor and into the lounge room and then flew across the front of the television.  I managed to capture him and return him to his tank.
Silkworm moths are not supposed to fly!

Day Sixty Six

The moths just keep getting larger and larger.

Day Sixty Five

Only a handful of moths emerged today.
The female moths emerging are larger and larger each day, like sleek cats.

Day Sixty Four, Week 10

The cycle draws to a close as some of the first emerged moths die.
The female moths continue to lay eggs...each female can lay between 200 and 500 eggs.
If half of my moths are female, that's three hundred and fifty moths, times say 300 eggs, equals around 10,000 eggs. Hmmmm

Day Sixty Three

I think I can safely say that today saw more female moths emerge than male.

Some of the excess males which had been delegated to the verandah, were added to the indoor tanks to make up  for the lack.

Still more cocoons waiting to broken open.

Day Sixty Two

The full moon has had its full impact on the pupae - from now on, the number of emerging moths can only decrease.
Once again proportion of female to male is almost one to one.
The moths are taking up less of my time.
Cleanliness has paid off, no more ants.
Excess male moths have been house out doors and seem to be quite happy just hanging around on their polystyrene tank.
Eggs are being laid...they look like miniature pearls after being laid and eventually turn a brown colour after a few days.

Female moth laying eggs.

The eggs change colour after a day or so.

Day Sixty One

Today's full moon saw over one hundred moths emerge.
The proportion of males to females was much more even.  Almost 1:1 but not quite.
Tanks were given a good clean out and a bit of re-organisation took place.
Cleanliness is utmost...ants are attracted to a fluid sprayed by the moths and escapees tend to leave a bit of a mess on the floor around the tanks.  This has to be cleaned up otherwise ants can become a problem.

Day Sixty

Eggs, moths and mess.

I can report that a greater proportion of females emerged this morning.

Tomorrow sees a full moon so I'm predicting a larger number of moths heralding the dawn.

Day Fifty Nine

A newly emerged silkworm moth.

Notice how short the wings are?

Gradually, its wings open up and lengthen.

When just emerged, the moth moves around, not unlike the silkworm it once was.

Oh, by the way...got my camera back!

Day Fifty Eight

We have eggs.
In less than twenty four hours since the first moth emerged, the first batch of eggs were fertilized and laid.
A few more moths emerged this morning, there are far more males than females.

Day Fifty Seven, Week 9

We Have Moths!

Fluttery moths, who have wasted no time with moving on, to the next step of ensuring the cycle continues.

As with the hatching of the silkworms, all the action seems to take place around dawn.

Not much happened after about nine this morning.

So...all that work I was going to do, to prepare for the emerging moths, has been delayed because of a four week influenza that eventually developed into bronchitis.

I'm on antibiotics now and I have been feeling a little bit more on top of things for about twenty four hours...thankfully.

Working under pressure now, I removed from the tanks and counted the cocoons.

I cleaned and dried the tanks and then lined them with paper.

One layer of paper is laid out to line the tank.

A smaller piece of paper is used to add a second liner to the bottom of the tank.

Rectangles of paper are added, in the hope that the moths will lay their eggs on these bits of paper making for easier handling.

So far I've got two requests for eggs.  The first is for a small amount.  The second is for  whatever remains.

If you would like to purchase eggs or empty cocoons, do contact me.

Sorry, due to border control, New South Welshman only please.

And, what does six hundred and ninety nine cocoons look like?

Well, this one didn't cocoon...but metamorphosis is still progressing.

As I'm about to publish this post, the first batch of eggs has been laid!

Day Fifty Six

Inside the cocoons the caterpillars quietly morph and will eventually transform into moths with four creamy coloured wings, six legs and two antennae

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY.

OCTOBER, 1873.

Day Fifty Five

I don't have a camera!  It's very annoying.
I left the camera at my sister-in-law's house on Boxing Day and have had to resort to using my mobile telephone (which is not very good for taking photographs).
Today I have three things to report:
1.  My daughter fed her silkworms frozen leaves and returned home to find that the silkworms had turned green! She quickly removed the leaves from their tank and gave them fresh leaves.  Will they recover?  It remains to be seen.
2.  One of my silkworms  has failed to spin a proper cocoon.  It simply crept into a spot beneath some silk from other silkworms' cocoons.  I initially thought that the silkworm had failed to spin because it had died.  What I can see now is that the caterpillar is actually metamorphosing!  I will take photographs as soon as my camera has returned home.  Apparently a silkworm does  not need a cocoon for metamorphoses.   
3.  I found a cocoon in the garage...so similar in shape and size to a silkworm cocoon but a bit different in colour.  I've become so much more aware of cocoons now that I've watched hundreds of my own silkworms spin a cocoon.

Day Fifty Four

Silk is a natural protein fibre.

Silk production commenced in China around 2570 BC.

White silk was once most favoured because it can be dyed any colour. 

Coloured silk is becoming accepted as more environmentally friendly because colour is achieved without the use of dye.

China is also credited for the first silk fabric.

In an attempt to keep the production of silk secret by the Chinese, some tall stories were conjured up as to how the textile came about.

It was two thousand years before the secret  of silk production reached Korea in 200 BC.

Mountain Magpie, Sparrows and Bramble, by Huang Zhucai, 10th century, ink and color on silk.

Day Fifty Three

Silkworm condominium has increased from four to five levels.

The sun shone today, the temperature rose to the mid twenties and not much else happened.

The little creatures are metamorphosing quietly in their cosy cocoons.

My influenza is still bothersome but improving.  When I start feeling more energetic I have to start cleaning up the tanks in preparation for the moths' emergence.

Hundreds of moths.....