Rooster Mike without a head. headless rooster

One day, namely on September 10, 1945, a simple Colorado farmer Lloyd Olsen entered the chicken coop, clutching an ax in his hand. He was going to catch and behead a rooster named Mike. Lloyd invited his stepmother to dinner, and she was a passion for chicken meat. This worthy woman preferred the neck to other parts of the chicken body. Therefore, he chopped the rooster carefully, trying to save as much of the neck as possible. Well, even so, but chopping a cock's head for a short time: once - and you're done. Done, but not really. Having lost his head, rooster Mike began to roam around the yard. Lloyd, being a farmer, of course, was not surprised by this: almost all chickens continue to live, run and even fly for several minutes after the beheading.

Lloyd Olsen calmly waited for the decapitated Mike to fluff himself up and be ready to be plucked. But instead of that, Mike suddenly stopped running around randomly, stopped and began to make movements that chickens usually do, cleaning feathers and pecking grain. Headless! In general, Lloyd immediately thought that a good mother could eat the neck of another chicken, and this is a miracle, damn it! And he tried to feed the headless Mike. Milk from a pipette, small grains of corn - right in the neck.

Happened.

The headless rooster lived. When he began to choke on his own secretions, Lloyd cleared his windpipe with a syringe or an enema. Days passed - Mike did not think to die. Rumors spread about the headless rooster. Many doubted. In order not to be considered a storyteller, Olsen took Mike and went with him to the University of Colorado, where specialists examined Mike, after which they publicly confirmed that the unprecedented rumors about a headless rooster were true.

Mike is famous. And Lloyd with him. They began touring America with a show where the miracle rooster was shown along with other strange creatures. People paid 25 cents to see Mike. At the peak of his popularity, Lloyd was earning about four and a half thousand dollars a month showing Mike. In today's money it is more than forty-eight thousand. Dozens of newspapers and magazines published photos of the incredible bird.

Jealous of Olsen's success, many tried to create their own headless chicken, but all these unfortunate birds lived no more than two days. Mike lived without a head for eighteen months. He could probably live on, but one night in March 1947, at the Phoenix Motel, Mike began to choke, and Lloyd suddenly realized that he had forgotten the syringe and enema at the place of the previous performance. It was not possible to clean the rooster's trachea with improvised means, and Mike finally ordered to live long.

In Colorado, in the city of Fruta, near which Lloyd's farm was located and where, in fact, it all began, a monument was erected to Mike. That's what you saw at the beginning of this post.

Of course, scientists did not miss the opportunity to arrange a post-mortem autopsy on the mysterious rooster. It turned out that the edges of the walls of the carotid artery stuck together from the blow of the ax and did not allow Mike's blood to flow out, and since Lloyd tried to save as much of his neck as possible, after chopping off his head, Mike was left with some tiny part of the brain and even one ear, which not only remained, but also was in working order. In principle, this is enough for a rooster to function almost like a full-fledged bird.

This is such a life story.

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On September 10, 1945, an American farmer with culinary needs cut off the head of a rooster named "Mike". Surprisingly, the rooster did not die and the inquisitive farmer decided to let him live. Mike lived for another 2 years, the farmer fed him with a pipette, although Mike tried to scoop food down his throat ...

A five-and-a-half-month-old young cockerel romps in the dust outside his chicken coop in Fruita, Colorado. The unsuspecting bird looked amazing on this now famous day.

Clara Olsen planned to cook chicken for dinner. Her husband, Lloyd Olsen, was sent to the chicken coop on a rather ordinary mission - to prepare a chicken for a meeting with a frying pan. But the solution to the problem was not quite usual. Lloyd knew that his mother-in-law would dine with them and that she loved chicken neck.

He aimed the ax so as to leave the neck as large as possible. "Pleasing your mother-in-law was as important in the 1940s as it is today."

A qualified blow is made, and the chicken has become more like a fresh poultry carcass. Then the resistant bird recovered from the shock and "life began to improve." Mike (it is not known when the famous rooster got his nickname) returned to what he was doing before the execution. He went to look for crumbs around the yard and clean feathers in the same way as the rest of his chicken coop buddies.

When Olsen found Mike sleeping with his "head" under his wing the next morning, he decided that since Mike survived, he should live on. Lloyd figured out a way to feed and water him. With a pipette, Mike was given grain and water.

It became obvious that Mike was an unusual rooster.

After a week of new life, Mike Olsen picked him up and drove him 250 miles to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Skeptical scientists tried to answer all questions regarding Mike's amazing ability to live without a head. It was determined that the ax blade had passed through the jugular vein, and a blood clot prevented Mike from bleeding to death.

Although most of his head was missing, most of his brain stem and one ear remained with him. Since most of a chicken's reflexes are controlled by the brainstem, Mike was able to stay quite healthy.

FOR 18 MONTHS that Mike lived as the "Amazing Headless Chicken", he gained weight from a mere 2.5 pounds to almost 8 pounds. In an interview, Olsen said that Mike was "the perfect example of a healthy chicken except for the lack of a head."

Some Fruity residents also remember Mike - "he was a big fat chicken who didn't know he didn't have a head" - "he seemed as happy as any other chicken."

Everyone had to see the miracle rooster, and Olsen held a national tour. Curious people in New York, Atlantic City, Los Angeles and San Diego paid 25 cents to see Mike. The Amazing Chicken was valued at $10,000 and insured for the same amount. His fame and fortune further improved after publications in Life and Time Magazine. It goes without saying, Everything was registered in the Guinness Book of Records.

Returning from one of these road trips, Olsen stopped at a motel in the Arizona desert. In the middle of the night, Mike began to choke. Lloyd couldn't quickly find a pipette to clear Mike's throat. And Mike left this mortal world...

Now the City of Fruita hosts an annual festival celebrating Mike's impressive will to live. The program includes concerts, a car show, a running competition (it's called "Run Like a Headless Chicken") and other joys of life.

Video

One day, namely on September 10, 1945, a simple Colorado farmer Lloyd Olsen entered the chicken coop, clutching an ax in his hand. He was going to catch and behead a rooster named Mike. Lloyd invited his stepmother to dinner, and she was a passion for chicken meat. This worthy woman preferred the neck to other parts of the chicken body. Therefore, he chopped the rooster carefully, trying to save as much of the neck as possible. Well, even so, but chopping a cock's head for a short time: once - and you're done. Done, but not really. Having lost his head, rooster Mike began to roam around the yard. Lloyd, being a farmer, of course, was not surprised by this: almost all chickens continue to live, run and even fly for several minutes after the beheading.

Lloyd Olsen calmly waited for the decapitated Mike to fluff himself up and be ready to be plucked. But instead of that, Mike suddenly stopped running around randomly, stopped and began to make movements that chickens usually do, cleaning feathers and pecking grain. Headless! In general, Lloyd immediately thought that a good mother could eat the neck of another chicken, and this is a miracle, damn it! And he tried to feed the headless Mike. Milk from a pipette, small grains of corn - right in the neck.

Happened.

The headless rooster lived. When he began to choke on his own secretions, Lloyd cleared his windpipe with a syringe or an enema. Days passed - Mike did not think to die. Rumors spread about the headless rooster. Many doubted. In order not to be considered a storyteller, Olsen took Mike and went with him to the University of Colorado, where specialists examined Mike, after which they publicly confirmed that the unprecedented rumors about a headless rooster were true.

Mike is famous. And Lloyd with him. They began touring America with a show where the miracle rooster was shown along with other strange creatures. People paid 25 cents to see Mike. At the peak of his popularity, Lloyd was earning about four and a half thousand dollars a month showing Mike. In today's money it is more than forty-eight thousand. Dozens of newspapers and magazines published photos of the incredible bird.

Jealous of Olsen's success, many tried to create their own headless chicken, but all these unfortunate birds lived no more than two days. Mike lived without a head for eighteen months. He could probably live on, but one night in March 1947, at the Phoenix Motel, Mike began to choke, and Lloyd suddenly realized that he had forgotten the syringe and enema at the place of the previous performance. It was not possible to clean the rooster's trachea with improvised means, and Mike finally ordered to live long.

In Colorado, in the city of Fruta, near which Lloyd's farm was located and where, in fact, it all began, a monument was erected to Mike. That's what you saw at the beginning of this post.

Of course, scientists did not miss the opportunity to arrange a post-mortem autopsy on the mysterious rooster. It turned out that the edges of the walls of the carotid artery stuck together from the blow of the ax and did not allow Mike's blood to flow out, and since Lloyd tried to save as much of his neck as possible, after chopping off his head, Mike was left with some tiny part of the brain and even one ear, which not only remained, but also was in working order. In principle, this is enough for a rooster to function almost like a full-fledged bird.

This is such a life story.

From a few seconds to 15 - 20 minutes, a chicken without a head can live. This phenomenon is often observed by the owners of private farmsteads, who themselves kill the bird. The sight of a body that gets to its feet, begins to walk, run, flap its wings, make chaotic movements, try to take off, can be frightening. But the fact that birds and mammals can exist for a short period of time has a scientific explanation.

The spinal centers responsible for motor reflexes usually operate under the control of the centers of the brain, but they retain the ability to work autonomously for some time if the brain stops sending signals. This is not unique to birds: mammals can also retain signs of life by losing their heads.

The spinal cord appeared much earlier than the brain. And in the process of evolution, the centers responsible for the reflex movements of the body did not disappear. The brain took over the coordination, creating a kind of “superstructure”, leaving the lower functions to the spinal cord. Reflexively, a person withdraws his hand from the burning fire, but he will not be able to bend down, pick up something or throw something without the help of brain signals.

A chicken can live without a head for up to a few minutes.

Interesting. Up to 15 seconds, a person executed on the guillotine can react to what is happening, this is evidenced by the testimonies of the executioners who observed the facial expressions of the executed. Among the historical facts and retained the ability to move within 10-20 seconds of the body of people without heads.

A decapitated chicken also continues to move reflexively, if the spinal cord was not damaged by an ax or a billhook. Life in the headless body of a bird can last up to several minutes.

When describing the technology of slaughtering a bird, the authors necessarily emphasize that it is necessary to firmly hold the beating body not only before hitting with an ax, but also after, so that the blood spouting from the wound does not stain the entire place of slaughter, and pathogenic microbes do not get into the meat along with the dirt. The killed bird is hung on a special hook or placed in a cone, accelerating the release of blood.

But the chicken that lived without a head is not fiction. An accidental combination of circumstances, inept actions cause prolonged agony if the blow fell very high, almost near the skull. The spinal cord continues to give commands to the muscles, forcing the body to move while the rest of the blood circulates through the arteries and veins.

After an unsuccessful decapitation, the chicken is still able to move independently.

Why does a chicken run without a head

The existence of a body without a head is no longer disputed, this was discussed several centuries ago, watching executions on guillotines. The executioners, whose duty it was to throw severed heads into baskets, even complained that the heads of the executed spoiled state property by gnawing the rods. And these are cases with the most highly organized beings - people. Chickens, for which the spinal cord is always responsible for most of the reflexes, are practically champions among animals in terms of life without a head.

Breaking out of her hands before a blow, she automatically continues to rush forward, to escape from danger. Deprived of commands to coordinate movements, the spinal cord does not fully cope with the task, so running is chaotic, has no purpose. Once the bulk of the blood is lost, the bird dies.

How long a chicken without a head will live depends on its anatomical features, the place of cutoff and the rate of blood loss.

Important. During the entire period of agony, the bird experiences severe pain, so experiments in its own backyard are not only unethical, but also affect the taste of meat, which becomes tougher, changes the smell.

For slaughter, a well-sharpened ax is used.

Before slaughter, poultry farmers are advised to prepare a sharply sharpened ax or billhook, take it in their working hand, and press the second firmly during this period, the muscles contract, the limbs twitch, reflexively the chicken seeks to free itself from the hands holding it, run away, hide. Death almost always occurs as a result of blood loss. Poultry farmers before slaughtering birds are advised to take care to immobilize the chicken, stun it to reduce suffering.

The amazing story of a chicken that lived 2 years without a head and got into the Guinness Book of Records

The myths that chickens can live without a head were born by the story of one chicken who managed to become famous all over the world and even get into the Guinness Book of Records. It is not known what the cockerel itself experienced during its existence with its head separated from the body, but its killer and owner earned a fortune by demonstrating a life-loving creature and touring with him in different cities.

The nameless creature in the poultry yard was chosen for dinner by its owner. Trying to appease his stepmother who came to visit, he cut off the head of a 5-month-old cockerel so as to save the neck - a woman's favorite part.

Cockerel Mike lived without a head for 2 whole years and got into the Guinness Book of Records.

Olsen - that was the name of the owner of the bird from Colorado - decided to wait and see what would happen. He introduced food into the open esophagus, cleaned the trachea from mucus. Having learned about the miracle - the bird, the curious were drawn to the farmer. And he started his business, at first simply showing a cockerel named Mike for money, and then began to travel with him all over the country. In just one month, Mike was bringing in about $5,000, which would be $48,000 today. Mike lived to be two years old, and in 18 months without his head, he grew into an 8-pound adult rooster.

His career could have continued, but one day the owner forgot the tools for cleaning the esophagus and trachea after the performance, the bird simply suffocated. Olsen's numerous attempts to create another phenomenon were unsuccessful. Mike's autopsy showed that after the impact, the severed arteries "glued together", preventing much blood from flowing out. Thanks to this, he managed to live so long, enrich the owner and be honored to be listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

A living organism will never reveal all its secrets to scientists, because any creature is unique, has its own characteristics. Mike, whose record has not been broken since 1945, only confirms this.

Every farmer who has slaughtered or watched a bird slaughter knows that headless chickens run for up to 10 minutes. When slaughtering, they need to be held firmly. Otherwise, they can break free and run away from the place of execution, flapping their wings.

The headless bird runs and twitches reflexively, its muscles obeying the last commands coming from the spinal cord. It may take up to ten minutes for this process to stop completely.

Important. When slaughtering a bird, it is necessary to hold the convulsively shuddering body not only until the moment of killing, but also after. Otherwise, everything around will be flooded with blood from a severed cervical artery, and the impact site will be dirty, which opens up access for soil microbes to meat.

But there was a single case in history when the blow of an ax fell high and so successfully that it did not touch the vital centers of the brain, allowing the chicken to exist due to its remains. A chicken without a head lived for almost a year and a half.

Why can a chicken run without a head?

Popular fantasy explains why a chicken runs without a head from the standpoint of superstition. But this fact has a purely scientific justification.

• Birds descended directly from dinosaurs and separated as a separate class 130 million years ago. Their internal structure is more archaic than that of mammals.
• The spinal cord in birds developed earlier than the brain. In primitive forms of life, he was responsible for all the functions of the body.
• When the brain developed, it took over some of the functions of its predecessor. In modern birds and mammals, it is the brain that is responsible for the coordination of movements, but not completely.

If the brain is damaged or separated from the body, the spinal cord may briefly take over control of the body. A headless chicken can run because most of the reflex actions in these birds are not controlled by the brain.

Interesting. Medieval legends tell of repeated cases when people walked without heads. The most famous is Saint Dionysius.

After the saint was executed at Montparnasse, he took his head under his arm and walked all the way to Saint Denis, walking 6 km.

The Amazing Story of Rooster Mike

This story, which shocked all of America, took place on September 10, 1945 in the provincial town of Fruta, Colorado.

The mother-in-law came to visit the Olsen family. It was planned to serve chicken on the festive table. The head of the family, whose name was Lloyd, went with an ax to the chicken coop. His choice fell on a well-fed white cockerel five and a half months old. The mother-in-law loved chicken necks, so the loving son-in-law tried on an ax in such a way as to cut off the head as high as possible. Upon impact, only part of the head was separated from the body. The jugular vein was not affected.

The blood on the wound clotted into a blood clot, which clogged large blood tracts and prevented the bird from dying from blood loss. The vital centers of the brain also survived. The chicken even has one ear left.

Mike's life after the beheading

Less than half an hour after the decapitation, the chick recovered enough to move, stand up on its own, and go about its business. His behavior was not much different from usual. Lloyd decided not to finish off the chicken. And when he discovered that he had spent the night on a perch, he decided to save his life. He even called me Mike.

Mike could not eat or drink on his own. The owner fed him by hand, carefully injecting water and grain directly into the opening of the esophagus with a pipette. It periodically clogged with mucus, and had to be carefully cleaned with a syringe.

With this exception, Mike tried to lead a normal cock life. He walked, slept on a perch, tried to clean feathers and peck. He even crowed, although his singing sounded like a throaty gurgle.

Fame

The veracity of this story is documented at the University of Salt Lake City, Utah. Lloyd took an overly tenacious bird there a week after the incident. A few days later, the newsmen picked up the story, and all of America learned about the amazing headless chicken. Not only yellow pages and tabloids wrote about the headless chicken, but Time and Life.

The Olsens managed to capitalize on the fame that fell on them. Lloyd was exhibiting Mike as a touring attraction. By paying 25 cents for entry, anyone could look at the curiosity. Together with Mike, the farmer showed a pickled chicken head, supposedly chopped off. In a month, Mike brought the owners up to $ 4,500, and was valued at 10 thousand.

In fame and care, this amazing chicken lived for 18 months. He grew up and put on weight by almost 2.5 kg. At the time of death, an unusual rooster weighed almost 4 kg.

Important. People, inspired by Olsen's example, tried to decapitate a chicken so that it would exist without a head.

But all attempts were in vain. Cutting off the head led to the death of the bird.

Death

In March 1947, the show toured America. Olsen stayed at a motel with Mike. During the night, the chicken began to choke. And the farmer forgot the cleaning syringe in the pavilion where the show was held, and did not save the pet.

The amazing chicken has become the unofficial symbol of Fruta. In 1999, the people of Colorado established Mike the Headless Chicken Day. Every year, the third weekend of May is dedicated to games and competitions in his honor.