Essential Compendium of Sericulture

...Those that wake first are named Fire-Snatching Mothersoriginal: "qiang huo niang" (搶火孃); these are the early-awakening silkworms that stir before the rest of the brood, traditionally identified as males., which are all male silkworms. After the whole brood has finished waking, if they are entangled together like a mass of drifting poplar blossoms, one must use chopsticks to gently separate them. This ensures that the "Mothers" trapped at the bottom can find space to climb upward through the gaps. This is the method for managing the awakening.

The Second Sleep

The silkworms' second sleep occurs more rapidly than the first sleep, generally within four to five days [of the first]. The various methods for removing waste, sifting through the trays, and halting the feeding of leaves remain the same as those used for the first sleep.

Ceasing the Fire

When silkworms reach the stage of Ceasing the Fireoriginal: "chuo huo" (輟火); a critical management phase where the heat and feeding are stopped to allow the larger larvae to enter their molt., the procedure differs from that of the younger silkworms. For the sleep of the very young silkworms, one simply sifts and distributes them. However, at the "Ceasing Fire" stage, one must weigh the silkworms to determine their total quantity. One must first thoroughly remove the waste the "sand" or droppings and leaf remnants, sift them until clean, and inspect the "sleep-heads" before they can be weighed and compared.

Therefore, once the silkworms have entered sleep uniformly, the workers gather to inspect them; this is called Catching the Sleep-Headsoriginal: "zhuo mian tou" (捉眠頭); the process of identifying and grouping silkworms that have reached the same stage of dormancy to ensure the brood stays synchronized.. The timing for sifting and changing the trays just before sleep is also different from that of small silkworms. For small silkworms, one may sift when two-tenths of them have entered sleep. For the "Ceasing Fire" stage, one must wait until three or four-tenths have entered sleep. This is because by this stage, the silkworms are larger and occupy many more baskets; after sifting, one must then remove the waste and "catch" the silkworms, and even if many hands work with great speed, compared to...