‘Miracle’ headless chicken lived for 18 months despite being struck with axe in slaughter attempt
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Brian Brainerd/The Denver Post via Getty Images/ @VisionaryVoid/ X
Running around 'like a headless chicken' may be synonymous with a chaotic situation, but one chicken managed it for a surprising amount of time.
Mike the Headless Chicken was just Mike the Chicken when he was taken off on a trip instantly triggering for anyone who has seen Chicken Run.
But unlike the ill-fated Edwina from the classic animated movie, RIP Edwina, Mike survived being taken to 'the chop'.
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On September 10 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen from Colorado in the US had been sent out into the yard to bring back a chicken for dinner.
Olsen chose Mike, a Wyandotte chicken who was around five and a half months old at the time.
But Olsen was left shocked when Mike was still alive, despite having his head cut off with an axe.
While a chicken can keep moving without a head as the nerves continue making the muscles contract, we're talking a matter of seconds or maybe minutes at a push.
Miracle Mike went on to live significantly longer than that.
When he noticed that Mike simply was not shuffling off to chicken heaven, Olsen started to feed him a mixture of milk and water using an eyedropper, as well as odd bits of corn and worms.
For his part, Mike continued to act more or less like a normal chicken.
The bird still tried to preen his feathers, scratch and peck for food, and even to crow.
Though this 'crowing' ended up sounding like a gross gurgling sound.
Mike the Headless Chicken went on to become a popular sideshow attraction.
This included going on tour with other 'anomalies', and being photographed for magazines.
At the height of his fame, Mike's entertainment value saw his owner raking in a whopping $4,500 a month, more than $72,000 a month in 2024.
Not bad for a headless chicken.
Mike's career came to an end when he choked to death on a corn kernel in 1947, though his owners claimed they sold him.
So how did Mike survive so long?
One explanation was that Olsen's axe stroke somehow missed Mike's jugular vein, which would explain why he didn't bleed out in the short term.
But what about still acting like a chicken?
Despite most of Mike's head being severed, his brainstem and one ear, located at the back of his head, survived intact enough to keep him going.
This contained the bits of the brain which maintained homeostasis, and combined with separate balance organs located in other parts of a chicken's body, Mike could balance and walk.
To this day, Colorado still holds a 'Mike the Headless Chicken Day'.