OVERVIEW OF HARVESTING COCOONS
- Harvesting cocoons begins by opening nests and carefully removing cocoons with a scoop.
- Cocoons are placed in water to remove sand and mud and some mites.
- Then cocoons are rinsed under running water while in a metal sieve to remove remaning mites,
- The final rinse is in a weak bleach solution (0.05%)
- Cocoons are dried for about 1 hr on a paper towel.
- Dry cocoons can then be candled. Candling is done over a flashlight (6V with an irridescent bulb) in a candling dish in a dark room to remove any parasitized cocoons.
- The final stage is cleaning the nesting trays .
