So I just got started in silk..

[Shask]

I've got things going at all stages on the silk production, but my first batch has reached the cocoon stage. I've got 13 cocoons, but I'm in a quandary. The wiki says that these will turn into silkmoths. When this happens, do the silkmoths stay in the cupboard as inventory items? So can I simply leave my cocoons to mature and instead of having to constantly catch silkmoths, simply farm them? Is this what experienced silkers normally do? If I leave them to mature and then breed it's a maximum of 65 silkworm eggs which is nice.

[Garath]

yes, thats what silk farmers do, breeding moths. Its also the way to get higher quality silk, though herb table, mulberry leaf Q and such also count

[Shask]

yes, thats what silk farmers do, breeding moths. Its also the way to get higher quality silk, though herb table, mulberry leaf Q and such also count

Ah awesome. I'm currently taking mulberry leaves from 4 or so trees that are in a long abandoned settlement which is 2 minutes away from mine. Do these trees eventually run out of leaves? Can I sustain the silk business on these? Obviously in the end I'll get some of my own.

[Lahrmid]

I was so happy when I heard that Mulberry Leaves never run out
Making a pot, getting some soil, water, and a mulberry makes life a lot easier when you plant it right outside the door.

You should do that as soon as possible.

[ramones]

Its not that you can calculate right number of 65 eggs like you did. You have 13 cocoons = 13 moths. That means you will get MAXIMUM of 6 pairs = MAXIMUM of 60 eggs.

Know, that each pair can give up to 10 eggs maximum. Also be aware that you may not get 6 pairs, maybe you will have 5 male and 8 female = only 5 pairs = only 50 MAX.

At the end, I'd say your chances are you'll have 35-50 eggs somewhere

[Shask]

Its not that you can calculate right number of 65 eggs like you did. You have 13 cocoons = 13 moths. That means you will get MAXIMUM of 6 pairs = MAXIMUM of 60 eggs.

Know, that each pair can give up to 10 eggs maximum. Also be aware that you may not get 6 pairs, maybe you will have 5 male and 8 female = only 5 pairs = only 50 MAX.

At the end, I'd say your chances are you'll have 35-50 eggs somewhere

Ah. You're correct about the first point.

And yeah, even at a worst case scenario, like 30 eggs, that's still 15 moths = an increase on last time.

[Potjeh]

In my experience you need to let roughly 1/3 of your cocoons hatch for a stable population.

[sabinati]

for the first batch i'd let them all hatch so you can increase production, but once you've got it up and running at max capacity, what potjeh said.

[Shask]

Ok, cool. I don't care about quality right now, so I might just repeat the process a couple more times. Maybe my maths sucks but I think each time you go through the whole cycle, if you don't unravel any cocoons you can expect your silkmoth population to double. 12x(2^7) =1536 silkmoths, and 7 cycles should be doable in around 18 days I think..

[ramones]

Ok, cool. I don't care about quality right now, so I might just repeat the process a couple more times. Maybe my maths sucks but I think each time you go through the whole cycle, if you don't unravel any cocoons you can expect your silkmoth population to double. 12x(2^7) =1536 silkmoths, and 7 cycles should be doable in around 18 days I think..

Not only double, but multiplies. Lets start with 10 cocoons
1st stage: 10 cocoons may give 50 eggs,
2nd stage: 50 cocoons again = 250 eggs,
3rd stage: 250 cocoons may give 1250 eggs,
4th sgate: 1250 cocoons = max of 6250 eggs.

This are maximums. but if you do average thing with lets say one pair of moths gets like 6 eggs...

1st stage 10 cocoons = 30 eggs
2nd stage 30 cocoons = 90 eggs
3rd stage 90 cocoons = 270 eggs
4th stage 270 cocoons = 810 eggs
5th stage 810 cocoons = 2430 eggs which you will never make I hope.

My head is mixed with some other calculations, hope I didn't make any mistakes here