Celebrating the 80-year legacy of Mike, ‘The Headless Wonder Chicken’

How long can a chicken live without its head?

It’s a question that pops up from time to time in certain circles (whatever, you probably have cool friends) and the answer makes a lot of people squeamish.

The answer? Up to 18 months. And today, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of Mike, the chicken that showed science to hold onto its huevos.

On 10 September 1945, a future-famous fowl on Lloyd Olsen’s farm in Fruita, Colorado, found himself on the wrong end of a swinging axe.

As expected, he keeled over. Unexpectedly, the rooster then stood back up and continued, seemingly unbothered, with his day. Headless. Literally running around like a headless chicken, having escaped the fate of becoming dinner.

Mike didn’t just survive the day though; he went on with his bird business for months, leading Llyod Olsen to the realisation he’d stumbled upon something special. More than that, he owned one of the most fascinating cases in animal history.

Olsen took Mike on tour, visiting cities all around the US, charging people 25 cents to see him. For reference, adjusted for inflation, Olsen started making today’s equivalent of roughly $63,000 a month off the back of his decapitated miracle. Mike even featured in TIME Magazine, earning the nickname “The Headless Wonder Chicken.” 

Sounds like an elaborate urban legend, but it all makes a surprising amount of sense.

Mike was fed by dropping food and water via an eyedropper aimed into his open esophagus. That answers the: "How did Mike last so long?"

As for the overall “how?” of it all, the answer lies in poultry anatomy.

Olsen missed the lower part of Mike’s brain, as well as the jugular vein. Mike could rely on the autopilot functions provided by the part of his brain located in his brainstem, located in base of his neck. Oh, and also a convenient blood clot, which prevented him from bleeding to death.

With his basic functions still intact, as well as his pelvic-located secondary balance organ (the lumbosacral organ) still doing its job, Mike was surprisingly fit. Granted, seeing, traditional pecking and avian interaction were all off the table, but Mike held on to life until 17 March 1947.

On that fateful day, he was on tour in Phoenix, Arizona. While staying in a hotel that evening, Olsen heard the sound of Mike choking. It turns out a kernel of corn had lodged itself in the bird’s throat, and Mike suffocated. Sadly, Olsen couldn't help much, as the farmer had accidentally left his pipette / syringe / eyedropper kit at the sideshow they’d attended that day. 

What a fowl way for a bird to die...  

Still, the former fowl can rest easy in hen heaven, as his legacy as the world’s most famous chicken lives on. The town of Fruita still holds an annual Mike The Headless Chicken Festival – with features costumes, a 5K Run Like A Headless Chicken race, and more distressingly considering the context, wing-eating contests and an egg toss.

Beyond festivities and merch we'd like to get our hands on, Mike even inspired Radioactive Chicken Heads, the poultry-themed comedy punk band.

Yes, that is a niche, but do check out the band's 2008 song, ‘Headless Mike’, which is really clucking good.

To this day, 80 years since the morning he lost his head, Mike still holds on to the record for the longest surviving chicken without a head in Guinness World Records. 

Rest in Poultry Power, Mike.