Slight flaw in the master plan. No one can bring themselves to actually boil the pupae. Urgent rethink of commercial direction. After much discussion it has been decided that the millions will be instead made by not selling silk but by restocking other farms with eggs. I have to hand it to my sons for their adaptability and I would like to think even the Dragons Den judges would be impressed.
*UPDATE*
*UPDATE*
The first moths are emerging. Pheromones are released by the females and the males detect them with their feathery antennae. Although they have wings, they can not fly and the male has to walk to the female. Eggs already being laid on the paper provided. Only one moth fails to emerge but we will wait and see. Once the eggs are collected by cutting around each cluster on the paper they are stored in the fridge for next year (2012) when the Mulberry leaves will be ready to withstand the onslaught. The boys sense that with only a few hundred eggs and the idea of having to step up the Mulberry harvest next year, their millions are slipping away from them. We have decided to go to Longleat Safri Park instead to cheer ourselves up and perhaps I am going to have to buy them some bee keeping equipment....
Anyone interested in having a go at rearing silkworms please contact me, we have more eggs than we need, available next spring (2012)!!
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