Is it possible for a completely decapitated chicken to continue living
"normally" as long as it is "fed" through its neck?  I have a cousin
who is a school teacher, and she all too willing to believe such a
story.  Help!

Hello forbiddenfruit-ga,

Your cousin the schoolteacher appears to be right.  There is one well
documented, apparently true instance in which a chicken was
decapitated yet continued to live for 18 months.

A Google search for ‘mike headless chicken’ will yield approximately
6900 results.

According to an article titled “Headless Mike” By Buck Wolf at
ABCnews.com, November 21, 2001
(http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/WolfFiles/wolffiles182.html):

“We all know a chicken without a head will run around just like that
sniveling, middle-echelon manager in your office. But not that many
people remember Miracle Mike of Fruita, Colo., the rooster who lived
for years without his head.

Poor Mike was only 5 ½ months on Sept. 10, 1945, when farmers Lloyd
and Clara Olsen set him on the chopping block. After the ax fell, this
bird ran around. They all do. Mike's head was dead. But his bottom
just kept on flapping.

With an eye-dropper, the Olsens fed him through the opening of his
throat. Mike choked a bit. But days turned into weeks and months.
Thus, a legend was born.”

As the story goes, Mike was able to continue living because his brain
stem and jugular were missed and a blood clot kept him from bleeding
to death.

There is even a sculpture honoring Mike in Fruita Colorado.  According
to a Denver Post article (Sculpture honors Mike the Headless Chicken,
By Nancy Lofholm, March 31, 2000, 
http://63.147.65.175/news/headless.htm ):

“Mike the Headless Chicken is now the cock of the walk in downtown
Fruita. A sculpture of Mike - the Fruita chicken that lived for 18
months in the 1940s minus his head - is being permanently installed in
a flower planter on a downtown corner today. The 4-foot-high Mike
likeness is appropriately made from 300 pounds of old metal farm
castoffs that include ax heads, sickle blades, hay-rake teeth and
other cutting objects.”

Fruita has even set aside two days in Mike’s honor that they call
“Mike The Headless Chicken Days”.  They include a golf tournament,
pancake breakfast and a pet parade, among many other special events. 
For more information, check out
(http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/).


For more information on Mike check out the following websites:

The Salt Lake Tribune 
http://www.sltrib.com/2002/sep/09012002/sunday/sunday.htm

One Magazine
http://www.onemagazine.net/mike.htm	

Christianity Today
http://www.christianitytoday.com/cl/2001/001/28.70.html


I hope you didn’t bet money on this.

Please ask for clarification if you would like more information.

Googlenut-ga


Google search terms:

decapitated chicken
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=decapitated+chicken

decapitated chicken -Quiroga
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=decapitated+chicken+-Quiroga&btnG=Google+Search
(excluding book written by Horacio Quiroga)
 
September 10, 1945, Lloyd Olsen
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=September+10%2C+1945%2C+Lloyd+Olsen&btnG=Google+Search

mike headless chicken
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=mike+headless+chicken&btnG=Google+Search

---

Request for Answer Clarification by forbiddenfruit-ga on 30 Nov 2002 15:35 PST

I'm not willing to concede to my cousin so easily!  We must agree on
the meaning of decapitation.  No head means no brain stem (the spinal
cord doesn't count) and OF COURSE the jugular must be severed.  And
the photos accompanying the "Mike the headless rooster" articles show
a chicken minus its head--including the entire neck!  No disrespect to
Buck Wolf, but was this bird merely wounded or beheaded?  No head
means dead!

I don't mean to be difficult, but I am already familiar with the
reports. I was expecting physiological reasons why Mike's condition is
nonsense or true.  Too many people are willing to accept eyewitness
reports, no matter how goofy they may be--not me!  Even a bird's brain
does much more than simply fill its skull.  It regulates many bodily
functions.  And the sense of balance is located in the inner ear,
which is certainly missing in a headless and especially neckless
chicken.  Mike is reported to have walked and perched quite
normally--he even preened!  How can a bird preen without a mouth?  How
many people would accept the report of a headless man picking his
teeth, a headless dog fetching a stick, or a headless mouse smiling
and saying "cheese"?  Even an ant is doomed without its head.  Come
on, let's get real here.

The articles can't even agree on how long this super bird lived. 
Proof requires more than eyewitness reports.  If that's all it took,
than UFO's, ghosts and honest politicians would be scientific fact.  I
was asking for a  clearcut and sound physiological REASON to laugh at
headless chicken stories--as well as a certain school teacher I know.

---

Clarification of Answer by googlenut-ga on 30 Nov 2002 16:14 PST

Hello forbiddenfruit-ga,

I apologize if I misunderstood your question.  Since you specifically
mentioned "Mike the headless roster" and details such as being fed
through the neck, as in the case I presented, I thought that I covered
the information that you were looking for.

If you would like to have another researcher do further research on
the physiological explanation of this case, Google allows you to
reject and repost the question if you don’t feel that you received an
adequate answer.  Please feel free to do that.

Good luck with your research

Googlenut-ga

Googlenut-ga,

I think you did a fine job with your answer, and addressed the asker's
question directly and to the point. As to forbiddenfruit-ga, I think
you're too determined ont to lose a bet as to argue semantics of what
the definition of decapitated is. The chicken had no head, and was
"living
'normally' as long as it is 'fed' through its neck" as per your
question. How much more proof could you ask for of Mike's legitimacy?
Numerous papers as well as hundreds of visitors viewed this macabre
spectacle. But as you're not happy with googlenut's fine research, you
of course are more than welcome to take his suggestion. I just hope
you take mine to swallow hard and accept that it happened at least
once.

skermit-ga

The internet has lots of well documented occurences, that educated
people reject. This is likely one of them, but that does not prove the
educated people are correct. If you believe this one, see what you
think about the 100,000 references to UFOs, ET and related topics.
Some are logical, multiple witness and some of the witnesses have
excellent credentials.   Neil

First, I want to say that researcher googlenut-ga did a good job
answering my question referring to "Mike the headless rooster".  The
researcher's response indicated the question was answered the way
googlenut-ga understood it.  Let ME apologize for wording my first
question to "Google Questions" unclearly.  I won't resubmit, but I
WILL ask a new question regarding headlesss birds living "normal"
lives.

Second, I lost no bet because no bet was made.  Neither have I lost
the arguement--yet!  I just have a thing about too many people being
too eager to believe too many incredible stories without a dose of
healthy skepticism.  I noticed that the kind folks who offered their
comments had no response to my reasons for being doubtful.

Hi forbiddenfruit,

This is one of those scratch your head situations: people are willing
to believe some amazing gibberish (just consult snopes.com for proof),
but, on the other hand, nature sometimes behaves in unexpected and
seemingly impossible ways.

You made a point about the chicken not being able to balance because
balance is a function of the inner ear. Many years ago, I cut the head
off a rattlesnake (no, I don't hate snakes, there was a good reason).
Some minutes later, I attempted to skin the "dead" animal by turning
him over and slicing the length of the belly. This was made very
difficult by the animal repeatedly attempting to flip back onto his
stomach. I have wondered ever since how the snake "knew" up from down
without benefit of a head to use for orientation. That question
remains a mystery to me to this day, but perhaps the answer to your
question will eventually shed some light on it.

BTW, your handling of the misunderstanding with the original answer
(which was good, I thought) was quite graceful.

Regards,

ericynot-ga