This is one of those posts I really didn’t think I’d ever be writing (a bit like the crochet Sofa arm cover) but hey.
A little bit of background as to why anyone would ever need a sweetcorn holder, and a crochet one at that!
We’ve got some new chickens!
A bluebell, Silver Nick, Columbine, Maran Cuivre, Yorkshire blue and a Millie Fleur.
We’ve still got two of the big girls , but they are old ladies now at being over 3, and haven’t laid any eggs in over 4 months.
Anyone who had had chickens, and then tries to introduce new ones will know all about “The pecking order” yes, it is real, and it’s horrible to watch.
The big girls have not been kind, and just over a week into getting them – they are still chasing the new girls around.
So, things to distract the chickens were needed.
- The easiest one – tie some spring greens on a piece of string. It will swing when they peck it making it time-consuming to eat it! It takes them ages, keeping them distracted from the other chickens.
2. Freeze some vegetables and rice in a big bowl. They will spend ages and ages pecking at it while it defrosts.
3. Hang some frozen sweetcorn / Maise/ corn on the cob, so they have to peck it, again taking a long time to eat. Far better than leaving it on the floor!
Now to hang you corn up – this is where this whole post is going, I tried to hang them up using sting, tied like a present going round the ends and the middle.
It fell down instantly! Well then the chicken demolished it in seconds.
Queue some ingenious crochet!
The corn needed a net!
Big enough holes they could peck through, but secure enough to keep the corn actually suspended.
So here we go…….
You will need, scrap yarn, and a suitably sized hook.
I used some cotton, and a 4.5mm hook I had lying around.
USA Terms
Ch – chain
DC – double crochet
sk – skip
sts – stitches
Make a magic ring, ch3, 14 dc in the ring, ss to join. [15sts]
Round 2: * Ch5, sk 2 sts, sc to join to the ring. Repeat from * 3 more times. Ch7, sc to 1st ch 5 space.
Round 3: ch5 sk 2 sts, sc to join – keep repeating this all the way around until you get to the desired height.
I made mine for half corn on the cobs, and did 5 rounds. Fasten off. Weave in the starting end.
With the finished end, weave this through the ch5 spaces.
and pull tight to secure.
Voila – there you have it – a corn on the cob holder for the chicken to peck to help with boredom, that won’t instantly be pecked to the gound!
