A Detailed Guide to Raising Silkworms at Home: Learn to Raise Silkworms Easily at Home

With the continuous development of the rural economy today, many people have begun returning to rural areas to start businesses, and raising silkworms is also a good choice. China has always been a major silk country, and silk not only sells well domestically but is even exported abroad.

Methods for Raising Silkworms at Home  

1. The mulberry leaves you bring back should be washed and dried in a cool, shaded place. When feeding mulberry leaves, be sure to wipe the leaves with a dry cloth; there must be no traces of water on the mulberry leaves, otherwise the silkworms are prone to diarrhea and death.  

2. Fly killers, mosquito killers and the like must not be used indoors. Silkworms are very sensitive to odors and will die from poisoning.  

3. Clean the silkworm container promptly, remove leftover leaves and silkworm droppings, and when removing leftover leaves you need to use a writing brush to pick the silkworms off (this method is especially suitable for small silkworms); pay attention to whether there are still silkworms on the leftover leaves.  

4. When silkworms shed their skin, the amount of mulberry leaves used decreases; they roughly do not eat or move for one or two days. When they are halfway through shedding their skin, there is no need for anyone to help pull the skin off, otherwise the silkworms will die in pain.  

5. If diseased silkworms are found, isolate them from the other silkworms immediately.

How to Make More Money Raising Silkworms  

1. Vigorously carry out technical training and work hard to raise silkworm farmers' level of scientific silkworm raising. Technical training should be carried out to popularize scientific silkworm-raising techniques. First, silkworm farmers should be educated to standardize operating procedures, and to use rubber sheeting under the litter when removing droppings; after removing droppings, wash hands before feeding leaves; when picking out diseased silkworms, use silkworm chopsticks and put them into a lime container; second, attach importance to rearing management: feed young silkworms appropriately mature leaves, and during the large-silkworm stage pay attention to ventilation and air exchange, expanding the rearing bed and spreading the large silkworms out thinly; enable silkworm farmers to learn to identify common symptoms and master basic techniques such as symptomatic medication and dosage.  

2. Prevention first, integrated control. Silkworm disease control must adhere to the principle of "prevention first, integrated control." Before raising silkworms, do a good job of disinfection, making disinfection thorough and comprehensive, leaving no dead corners. During silkworm raising, frequently observe the silkworms' leaf-eating conditions and appropriately add medication; do not wait until silkworm diseases break out massively before using medication. At the same time, after silkworm raising, carry out post-rearing disinfection.  

3. For stiff silkworms and purulent disease, the following measures should be adopted. Do a good job with demonstration households and key households in disinfection, disease prevention, and scientific rearing, using points to drive broader areas and expand influence. Each time you disinfect, the silkworm tools should be soaked and disinfected, disinfecting pathogens in hidden parts, and then fumigation disinfection should be carried out in a sealed silkworm room. Focus on newly hatched silkworms, and do a good job of disinfecting sleeping silkworms and newly awakened silkworms. Often sprinkle silkworm bed disinfectant or anti-stiffening powder, as well as dry materials such as charred chaff. For 5th-instar silkworms, feed erythromycin or chloramphenicol every other day, and spread them out thinly, achieving good mulberry feeding to satiation. Implement matching of seeds and medicines, with technical follow-up services. When distributing silkworm eggs, send silkworm medicines and technical materials together to the silkworm farmers; silkworm farmers should buy medicines from genuine manufacturers to ensure the quality of silkworm medicines. Agricultural technicians should go deep into villages, groups, and farming households to provide on-site guidance and solve problems promptly when found.

What to Pay Attention to When Raising Silkworms  

1. Newly hatched silkworms are very small, and their bodies are dark black. When feeding mulberry leaves, note that it is best to pick tender mulberry leaves, and it is also best to cut them into small sections with scissors to make it easier for the newly hatched silkworms to eat.  

2. Wait until the newly hatched silkworms grow a little bigger; the mulberry leaves do not need to be cut, but tender leaves should still be the main choice, making it convenient for the silkworm babies to eat. Their bodies now carry a slight bit of white. Because the mulberry leaves are relatively tender, they dry out quickly, so pay attention to adding leaves in time.  

3. Silkworm babies eat quite vigorously and grow quickly; when their appetite improves, it is easy for them to reach molting time. At that time, the silkworm babies do not move much, and then begin the molting process. Do not think it is sick and rub it.  

4. After the 4th molt, the silkworm baby's body is already relatively transparent, preparing to enter the spinning state. After about 5 days, the silkworm cocoons can be harvested.  

5. Silkworms spend basically their whole lives eating. As friends raising silkworms in ordinary cities, perhaps the biggest headache is the mulberry leaf problem. If there are some to pick in the garden community, that is best; if not, you can buy them in online shops or buy them in the local market. Before feeding mulberry leaves, be sure to wash the leaves well and wipe them dry before feeding them to the silkworm babies; only then are they less likely to have diarrhea or even die.  

6. If it is relatively difficult to obtain mulberry leaves, when going out, you can pick some outside, pack them up and bring them back, then sprinkle a little water and store them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. In this way, the silkworms can have mulberry leaves to eat every day. If there really are no leaves, you can also feed some vegetable leaves, for example camphor tree leaves or lettuce leaves.  

Market Conditions for Silkworm Raising  

In the past two years, silk sales on the international market have been promising and prices have risen, causing the purchase price of silkworm cocoons to increase substantially. According to experts, mulberry trees do not demand much for growth; ordinary farmland and sloping land are all suitable for planting, and they can be planted in the same year and show results in the same year. The annual leaf-picking period lasts as long as 7~8 months; the technical requirements for raising silkworms are not high, and one learns it as soon as one tries; buildings and single-story houses are both fine, as long as there is ventilation and air flow, and before raising silkworms the room should be disinfected once with limewater. After mulberry leaf picking is finished at the end of November, the mulberry stems should be cut down for fuel, leaving the mulberry stump to grow again the next year. If the silkworm cocoon market changes, then the next year the mulberry stump can be dug out and rice or other crops can be planted instead. Therefore, the prospects for planting mulberry and raising silkworms look promising.

Reasonably mastering some silkworm-raising methods is very helpful to silkworm raisers. Although the silkworm-raising market conditions in China are very good, mastering some silkworm-raising methods can produce twice the result with half the effort for raisers. There are many methods for raising silkworms, and silkworm raisers can continuously summarize and innovate in practice.