Mike the Headless Chicken (April 20, 1945March 17, 1947)
was a male
Wyandotte chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off. After the loss of his head, Mike achieved national fame until his death in March 1947. In
Fruita, Colorado
The City of Fruita is a home rule municipality located in western Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 13,395 at the 2020 United States Census. Fruita is a part of the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area a ...
, an annual "Mike the Headless Chicken Day" is held every May.
Beheading
On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, was planning to eat supper with his mother-in-law and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-and-a-half-month-old
Wyandotte chicken
The Wyandotte is an American breed of chicken developed in the 1870s. It was named for the indigenous Wyandot people of North America. The Wyandotte is a dual-purpose breed, kept for its brown eggs and its yellow-skinned meat. It is a popular ...
named Mike. The axe removed the bulk of the head, but missed the
jugular vein
The jugular veins are veins that take deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart via the superior vena cava. The internal jugular vein descends next to the internal carotid artery and continues posteriorly to the sternocleidomastoid mu ...
, leaving one ear and most of the
brain stem
The brainstem (or brain stem) is the posterior stalk-like part of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. In the human brain the brainstem is composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. The midbrain is co ...
intact.
Due to Olsen's failed attempt to behead Mike, the chicken was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily. He attempted to preen, peck for food, and crow, though with limited success; his "crowing" consisted of a gurgling sound made in his throat.
When Mike did not die, Olsen instead decided to care for the bird. He fed it a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper, and gave it small grains of corn and worms.
Fame
Once his fame had been established, Mike began a career of touring
sideshow
In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction.
Types
There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:
*The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten ...
s in the company of such other anomalies as a two-headed baby. He was also photographed for dozens of magazines and papers, and was featured in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' and ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
'' magazines.
Mike was put on display to the public for an admission cost of 25 cents. At the height of his popularity, the chicken's owner earned $4,500 per month (); Mike was valued at $10,000 ().
Death
In March 1947, at a motel in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
on a stopover while traveling back from tour, Mike started choking in the middle of the night. He had managed to get a kernel of corn in his throat. The Olsens had inadvertently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow the day before, and so were unable to save Mike. Olsen claimed that he had sold the bird off, resulting in stories of Mike still touring the country as late as 1949. Other sources say that the chicken's severed trachea could not properly take in enough air to be able to breathe, and he therefore choked to death in the motel.
Explanation of the case
It was determined that the axe had missed the
jugular vein
The jugular veins are veins that take deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart via the superior vena cava. The internal jugular vein descends next to the internal carotid artery and continues posteriorly to the sternocleidomastoid mu ...
and a
clot
A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of cr ...
had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was severed, most of his
brain stem
The brainstem (or brain stem) is the posterior stalk-like part of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. In the human brain the brainstem is composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. The midbrain is co ...
and one ear were left on his body. Since basic functions (breathing, heart rate, etc.) as well as most of a chicken's reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem, Mike was able to remain quite healthy. This is a good example of
central motor generators enabling basic
homeostatic
In biology, homeostasis (British also homoeostasis) (/hɒmɪə(ʊ)ˈsteɪsɪs/) is the state of steady internal, physical, and chemical conditions maintained by living systems. This is the condition of optimal functioning for the organism and ...
functions to be carried out in the absence of higher brain centres.
In addition, birds possess a secondary balance organ in the pelvic region, the
lumbosacral organ, which controls walking locomotion virtually independently from the vestibular organ involved in flight. This has been used to explain how a headless chicken can walk and balance, despite the destruction of much of the cranial
vestibular system.
Legacy
Mike the Headless Chicken is now a cultural institution in Fruita, Colorado, with an annual "Mike the Headless Chicken Day", the third weekend of May, starting in 1999. Events held include the "5K Run Like a Headless Chicken Race",
egg toss
Egg tossing or egg throwing is a game associated with Easter. Various types of such games exist, common ones involve throwing an egg so that it lands on the ground without breaking. Such a contest may be known as an egg toss.
The egg was a symbo ...
, "Pin the Head on the Chicken", the "Chicken Cluck-Off", and "Chicken Bingo", in which chicken droppings on a numbered grid choose the numbers.
Mike the Headless Chicken was an inspiration for the poultry-themed comedy punk band
The Radioactive Chicken Heads
The Radioactive Chicken Heads are an American virtual band formed in Orange, California in 1993. Operating anonymously under the guise of mutant chickens and vegetables, the Chicken Heads' music is primarily a mix of punk rock, heavy metal and ...
, serving as the subject of their 2008 song "Headless Mike", for which a music video was filmed. The band also features a Headless Mike puppet which is frequently used in their live shows.
See also
*
List of individual birds
This is a list of well-known real birds. For famous fictional birds, see list of fictional birds.
* Águia Vitória, a bald eagle who serves as the mascot for Portuguese football club S.L. Benfica
* Albert Ross, an albatross believed to have bee ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Mike the Headless Chicken.orgat
City of Fruita
Is It Possible for a Chicken to Live with Its Head Cut Off?at ''
The Straight Dope
"The Straight Dope" was a question-and-answer newspaper column written under the pseudonym Cecil Adams. Contributions were made by multiple authors, and it was illustrated (also pseudonymously) by Slug Signorino. It was first published in 1973 in ...
''
Mike the Headless Chickenat
''Life'' magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mike The Headless Chicken
1945 animal births
1947 animal deaths
Individual chickens
Forteana
Mesa County, Colorado
Individual animals in the United States
Decapitation