Wednesday 13 July 2011

Silkworm Eggs Hatch




The eggs hatched far before their autumn arrival date . Grrrr. So there is another batch of silkworms finishing off the mulberry field leftovers. These will provide moths and eggs for next spring. The eggs will go in the fridge soon after being laid to prevent hatching this time. Less than a thousand silkworms so not that much work. The weather is hot now and they are growing fast. The mulberry must be picked before six in the morning to be fresh. Dew on my jeans and fresh early morning air... feels like you could live forever on this alone.

The clear eggs are the already hatched ones. The babies are one millimeter long. They will grow ten thousand times this size in twenty eight days. And then make cocoons.

5 comments:

  1. The eggs look like buttons. How tiny the baby worms are! Thanks for sharing. I'm really enjoying reading this post. xoxo - Nat

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  2. You've described a miracle. Thanks!

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  3. truly one of nature's great miracles. I've only ever seen the process in bits and pieces. thanks for the great photos.

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  4. This is my first year in over fifteen without any silk worms. I have saved eggs each year in the fridge but this year none of them hatched. I don't really raise them for the silk but use the cocoons for crafts and enjoy them as short-term pets.

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  5. This is such a wonderful process, something so beautiful to come from this little wrigglers.

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