Enclosures for raising cocoon-forming insects
OwnerNed A. Brunsinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Enclosures for raising cocoon-forming insects are provided. The enclosures, and methods using those enclosures, provide simpler, safer, and more efficient insect raising and reduce the chances of spreading infectious diseases, for example, Ophryocystis Elektroscirrha, between sequential groups of insects being raised. Typically, a first enclosure and second enclosure provide for the growth of the insects until the cocoon is formed and a place for the cocoons to hang until the insects emerge, respectively.
Claims20
An enclosure for raising cocoon-forming insects comprising:
- a left side, a right side, a front, a back, a top, and a bottom;
- the left side, the right side, and the front each comprising a screen;
- the left side and the right side comprising at least one set of corresponding knock-in shelf supports dividing the interior of the enclosure into at least two compartments, the at least two compartments comprising a top compartment and a bottom compartment;
- each set of corresponding knock-in shelf supports having, on the left side of the enclosure and the right side of the enclosure, similar distances from the bottom of the enclosure;
- and
- the sets of corresponding knock-in shelf supports, when knocked-in on the left side and the right side, configured to support a shelf.
A method of raising cocoon-forming insects, comprising the steps of:
- a) placing a plurality of cocoon-forming insects in a bottom compartment of a first enclosure (101), wherein the plurality of cocoon-forming insects are at a life stage before forming a cocoon in a first compartment of the first enclosure;
- b) feeding the plurality of cocoon-forming insects;
- c) waiting for a quantity of the cocoon-forming insects to form a cocoon on the shelf (123);
- d) transferring the shelf (123) comprising the cocoons to a second compartment in a second enclosure (201);
- and
- e) waiting for at least some of the cocoon-forming insects that formed a cocoon to emerge from the cocoons.
A method of raising cocoon-forming insects in a first enclosure and a second enclosure, comprising the steps of:
- a) placing a plurality of cocoon-forming insects in a bottom compartment of the first enclosure, wherein the plurality of cocoon-forming insects are at a life stage before forming a cocoon in a first compartment of the first enclosure;
- the first enclosure comprising:
- a first left side, a first right side, a first front, a first back, a first top, and a first bottom;
- the first left side, the first right side, and the first front each comprising a screen;
- the first left side and the first right side comprising at least one set of corresponding knock-in shelf supports dividing the interior of the first enclosure into at least two compartments, the at least two compartments comprising a top compartment and the bottom compartment;
- each set of corresponding knock-in shelf supports having, on the first left side of the first enclosure and the first right side of the first enclosure, similar distances from the first bottom of the first enclosure;
- the sets of corresponding knock-in shelf supports, when knocked-in on the first left side and the first right side, capable of supporting a shelf;
- b) feeding the plurality of cocoon-forming insects;
- c) waiting for a quantity of the cocoon-forming insects to form a cocoon on the shelf;
- d) transferring the shelf comprising the cocoons to a second compartment in the second enclosure;
- and
- e) waiting for at least some of the cocoon-forming insects that formed a cocoon to emerge from the cocoons.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.