Young silk worms prefer tender young mulberry leaves fed 3 times a day.
On average, 36,000 worms consume 1 ton of mulberry leaf over their lifetime. The silk worms increase in length by more than 40 times (approx. 3 inches) within 20 days of their feeding time and shed their skin 4 times in the process. When the silk worms are ready to spin, they are put into a round basket covered by cloth to keep them free from flies.