# Mike the Headless Chicken **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 18, 2000, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854 "2000-05-18T13:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/1 "2000-05-18T13:04:58Z")
Is this possible? [http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/about\_mike.htm](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? ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/2 "2000-05-18T13:11:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/3 "2000-05-18T13:31:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/4 "2000-05-18T13:51:29Z")
Cecil has addressed this one in his column [Is it possible for a chicken to live with its head cut off?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_086.html) Short answer is the chicken is not really “headless”. ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/5 "2000-05-18T14:10:41Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/6 "2000-05-18T16:03:06Z")
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](http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/headless_chicken/mike.html) ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/7 "2000-05-18T16:07:15Z")
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](http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/headless_chicken/mike.html) ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/8 "2000-05-18T16:21:58Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mike-the-headless-chicken/19854/9 "2000-05-18T16:26:58Z")
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.