The first cocoon is substantially thicker, and another day should see it finished. It then has to sit for a week before it can be processed further.
Another worm started to spin last night in one of the toilet roll inners I put around the edge of their plastic box. I split the cardboard tubes lengthwise and pulled them apart a little bit so the silkworms could crawl in by themselves. I don't know if you can see, but it's just starting to shape the cocoon around itself.
The biggest surprise though, was the worm in the "sick bay" which I thought was on it's way out. Last night it, too, started to spin. It's drawn a leaf around itself and is spinning inside.
Today I made a sort of open-weave framework of mulberry twigs and put it in their box for them to spin amongst, mainly because I knew I didn't have enough toilet roll inners for 70 (ish) worms. Within a few minutes, three silkworms had climbed up onto it, so maybe that's the best option.
Brilliant! Glad the sick worm seems to be on the mend! Seems like you did the right thing putting the twigs in for them, its probably nicer/more natural for the worms to spin there than in toilet roll tubes anyway. Your yarns from the lovely batts are looking good! I can never wait to get stuck into new batts either! :)
ReplyDeleteStill only have 3 spinning - I keep finding dead ones each day. I think they must just have a high mortality rate. I'm probably down to about 60 now, but hopefully will get enough to mate and lay eggs, and some to spin.
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