Mike the Headless Chicken
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Mike (The Headless Chicken) (April 1945 – March 1947) was a Wyandotte rooster (cockerel) that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off.[1] Thought by many to be a hoax, its owner took it to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and had it examined, which confirmed that it was legitimate.[citation needed]
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[edit] Life
[edit] The beheading
On Monday September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen failed to completely decapitate the five-and-a-half month old bird named Mike, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.
Not quite sure what to do with his by now loose head, on the first night after the decapitation Mike slept with it under his wing; it was this touching tenacity to life and the now redundant organ that convinced Olsen to reprieve Mike from the cooking pot.[citation needed]
Despite Olsen's botched handiwork, the by-now-headless Mike was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily; he even attempted to preen and crow, apparently not noticing that neither activity could be accomplished properly without a head. After the bird did not die, a surprised Mr. Olsen decided to continue to care permanently for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn. The unfortunate Mike occasionally choked on his own mucus, which the Olsen family would clear using a syringe.
When used to his new and unusual center of mass Mike could easily get himself to the highest perches without falling. His crowing, though, was less impressive and consisted of a gurgling sound made in his throat, leaving him unable to crow at dawn.
Being headless did not stop Mike putting on weight; at the time of his beheading he weighed some 2½ pounds and at the time of his death, this had increased to nearly 8.
[edit] Fame
Once his fame had been established, Mike began a wild existence of touring sideshows in the illustrious company of such other creatures as a two-headed calf; he was also the subject of various photo opportunities for dozens of magazines and papers. Olsen was loudly criticised by the then-equivalent of animal rights activists, who thought that he should have finished the job he had started.
Mike was on display to the public for an admission cost of 25 cents, and at the height of his popularity was earning a princely $4,500 per month ($50,000 in 2005 dollars). A pickled chicken head was also on display with Mike, but this was not Mike's original head as a cat had already eaten it. Mike was later examined by the officers of several humane societies and was declared to have been free from any suffering.
A children's playground chant soon emerged:
| “ | Mike, Mike, where's your head? Even without it, you're not dead! | ” |
[edit] Death
In March 1947, at a motel in Phoenix on a stopover while traveling back home from tour, Mike started choking in the middle of the night. As the Olsens had inadvertently left their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow the day before, they were unable to save Mike. For reasons best known to himself, although possibly for financial reasons, Lloyd Olsen claimed that he had sold the bird off, resulting in stories of Mike still touring the country as late as 1949.
Post mortem, it was determined that the axe blade had missed the jugular vein and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was severed, most of his brain stem and one ear was 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.
[edit] Mike's legacy in Fruita
Mike the Headless Chicken is now an 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, "Pin the Head on the Chicken", the "Chicken Cluck-Off", and "Chicken Bingo", in which chicken droppings on a numbered grid choose the numbers.
[edit] References
- The Natural History of the Chicken (2001). PBS Home Video.
- Einstein's Refrigerator: And Other Stories from the Flip Side of History (2001), Steve Silverman.
- Mike the Headless Chicken more popular than Clinton (1999), Amy Reiter, Salon.
