In Fruita in Colorado, US, a farmer had planned to eat a chicken for dinner, asking his wife to bring back a good-looking bird. After chopping the chicken’s head off with an axe, the farmer was faced with a headless chicken… that was still alive. And it remained alive for a year and a half.
Who was Mike the Headless Chicken?
Mike the Headless Chicken was a male Wyandotte chicken that lived for 18 months after he was beheaded.
On 10 September 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita in Colorado, US, killed a five-and-a-half-month-old chicken for dinner – but the decapitation didn’t quite go according to plan. Olsen’s axe removed most of the head, but missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.
Mike, as the chicken became known, went on to survive for 18 months.
Mike eventually became famous after his story spread around Fruita and eventually hit the headlines. A sideshow promoter called Hope Wade travelled from Salt Lake City, Utah, to meet Mike, and propositioned Lloyd Olsen, asking him if he could take the chicken on the sideshow circuit. "Back then in the 1940s, they had a small farm and were struggling," Lloyd’s great-grandson Troy Waters told the BBC. "Lloyd said, 'What the hell - we might as well.’"
How did Mike the Headless Chicken survive without a head?
Experts were surprised that “Miracle Mike” didn’t bleed to death, but the fact that he was able to continue functioning without a head is actually not a huge surprise.
Chickens don’t actually have much brain in the front of their skull – it’s predominantly at the back, behind the eyes. Mike’s beak, face, eyes and an ear were removed in the decapitation, but a significant proportion of his brain remained intact.
How did Mike the Headless Chicken eventually die?
During his headless years, Mike was fed with liquid food and water that the Olsens dropped directly into his oesophagus. They also cleared mucus from his throat. In 1947, they heard Mike choking but didn’t have a syringe to hand to help clear the mucus. Most chickens live between 5 and 10 years, so Mike had a slightly shorter innings than others – but more than nearly any others without a head!
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