Mike the Headless Chicken

Factual Questions
1

Is this possible?

http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/about_mike.htm

I read another article about Mike, and some other farmers tried to imitate his success with their own chickens, and some of them actually lived for a couple of days, the headless chickens that is. Is this a common occurrance?

2

What’s sad is that I grew up only about 15 miles from Fruita, CO and I never heard about Mike nor Headless Chicken Days. My parents probably thought it was too weird and avoided Fruita in May.

I never saw Zion, either, and I was only a couple hours away from that.

3

It is just a little misleading.

While it looks as though it’s head was lopped off at first glance, it was really just his face–the eyes and beak.

I’m still surprised he didn’t die of some infection.

4

Cecil has addressed this one in his column Is it possible for a chicken to live with its head cut off?

Short answer is the chicken is not really “headless”.

5

I’ll be damned. Are there any questions he hasn’t answered? I mean how obscure can one get, and Unca Cece has already covered it. The guy never ceases to amaze.

6

I read that most of a chicken’s movement/life centers are in the brain stem, which remained intact when Mike’s head was chopped off. There is a lot of “useful” information on the subject at

http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/headless_chicken/mike.html

7

I read that most of a chicken’s movement/life centers are in the brain stem, which remained intact when Mike’s head was chopped off. There is a lot of “useful” information on the subject at

http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/headless_chicken/mike.html

8

Now I see…

According to Alias’ URL, Headless Chicken Days weren’t celebrated until 1999, 13 years after I left the greater Fruita, Colorado, area. Now I don’t feel like I had a deprived childhood.

This would be in a state that also has an Alfred Packard Festival (Boulder, CO - June 15-16). ICYWW, he was a mountainman/cannibal in the 19th century.

9

Now I see…

According to Alias’ URL, Headless Chicken Days weren’t celebrated until 1999, 13 years after I left the greater Fruita, Colorado, area. Now I don’t feel like I had a deprived childhood.

This would be in a state that also has an Alfred Packard Festival (Boulder, CO - June 15-16). ICYWW, he was a mountainman/cannibal in the 19th century.