How long does a chicken run around without a head? Can a chicken live without a head? Why does a chicken run around without a head?

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

Happened.

The headless rooster lived. When he began to choke on his own secretions, Lloyd cleared his trachea with a syringe or an enema. As the days passed, Mike didn’t even think about dying. Rumors spread about the headless rooster. Many doubted. To avoid being branded as a storyteller, Olsen took Mike and went with him to Colorado State University, where experts examined Mike, after which they publicly confirmed that the unprecedented rumors about a headless rooster were true.

Mike became famous. And with him is Lloyd. They began to tour 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 earned about four and a half thousand dollars a month demonstrating Mike. In today's money, that's 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 his head for eighteen months. He probably could have continued to live, but one night, in March 1947, at a Motel in Phoenix, Mike began to choke, and Lloyd suddenly realized that he had forgotten the syringe and enema at the site of the previous performance. It was not possible to clear the rooster's trachea using improvised means, and Mike finally gave up his life.

In Colorado, in the city of Fruita, near which Lloyd’s farm was located and where, in fact, it all began, a monument was erected to Mike. This is exactly what you saw at the beginning of this article.

Of course, scientists did not miss the opportunity to perform a post-mortem autopsy on the mysterious rooster. It turned out that from the blow of the ax, the edges of the walls of the carotid artery stuck together and did not allow Mike’s blood to flow out, and since Lloyd tried to preserve as much of his neck as possible, after chopping off Mike’s head, some tiny part of the brain remained 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.

Such is the knacker's story.

Many people have heard more than once that a chicken whose head has been cut off can run around the area for some time. This usually happens to inexperienced owners and lasts several minutes. However, there is a known case in history when a chicken without a head lived for a year and a half. Why such situations happen to birds and how this is explained, we will try to figure it out.

How long can a chicken live without a head?

To prepare a delicious dinner from a chicken, the first step is to kill it by cutting off its head. However, the bird remains alive for some time. If you don’t hold your body at this moment, then it will try to move or even try to take off. Most often, headless chickens run chaotically around the area and this lasts for several minutes. Then the chicken simply dies from blood loss.

Sometimes the time of headless existence can last up to several hours. Why is this happening? The fact is that in birds and mammals, motor function is controlled by the spinal cord. After cutting off the head, nerve impulses continue to flow from it for several minutes.

As long as blood circulates in the body, all organs continue to work. Including the spinal cord, which contains the motor center. Therefore, for some time the spinal center continues to send signals to the cells of the body, but at the same time the coordination of movements is already impaired.

This continues until the feathered creature dies, having lost most of its blood. In fact, all this time the bird is suffering, and the sight of a headless chicken running around is not the most pleasant. Therefore, you should approach the cutting of the carcass carefully, cut off the head with a clear movement and hold the body tightly.

The Amazing Story of Mike the Rooster

The story began in September 1945, when an American farmer named Lloyd Olsen, who lived in Colorado, decided to slaughter a rooster for dinner. The choice fell on the youngest rooster, a five-month-old Wyandotte chicken. Wanting to leave more of the tasty neck meat in the carcass, the farmer tried to carefully chop off the head. But when struck with an ax, the walls of the carotid artery stuck together, preventing blood from flowing out.

For some time the rooster lay motionless on the ground, but after a few minutes he stood up and began to run awkwardly, but quite confidently, around the yard. The puzzled owner decided to wait to see what would happen next. He was sure that soon the death throes would pass and the bird could be cut up further. However, the rooster turned out to be tenacious; Moreover, he began to quite consciously walk on the ground, climb onto a perch, and even tried to peck grains.

Observing the surviving rooster, Olsen decided not to finish it off. What was guiding him at that time is unknown. Either simple curiosity, or scientific interest. Or maybe the farmer immediately realized that he could make good money on a unique animal. As a result, a Colorado resident began nursing a headless rooster, whom he named Mike.

The farmer fed the rooster milk from a pipette and pushed pieces of food into his esophagus. Soon Mike began to feel completely confident, having gotten used to the new conditions of existence. He moved freely around the yard and sat on the roost no worse than other chickens. Mike tried to preen his feathers like other birds, and hid his neck under his wing while sleeping. Some difficulties were caused by the fact that mucus constantly got into the trachea, but the caring owner removed the secretions with a syringe.

Soon, fame about the unusual rooster spread throughout Colorado. To dispel all the doubts that many distrustful citizens had, Olsen took his pet to the science center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The rooster aroused great interest among scientists who decided to find out the reason for this unique case. It turned out that the ax struck in such a way that the jugular vein remained intact. In addition, most of the spinal cord and one ear survived.

The remaining part of the brain stem was enough for the rooster to continue to live, while all organs continued to function. The amazing rooster was included in the Guinness Book of Records, and there was no end to those who wanted to see Miracle Mike. Thus began a tour of American cities, which brought the owner of the rooster not only fame, but also wealth.

For almost a year and a half, Olsen toured with his amazing rooster. During this time, Mike brought the owner more than 4 thousand dollars every month, which was a lot of money in 1946. To look at a headless chicken, visitors paid 25 cents, and newspapers paid much more for a photograph of the famous bird.

Mike lived in this headless state for 18 months. However, in March 1947, during the next tour, the rooster suffocated and died. It is worth noting that Lloyd Olsen prudently insured the bird’s life for 10 thousand dollars.

In the city of Fruta, where the famous rooster lived, annual festivities are held in his honor. Since 1999, every third Sunday in May, townspeople have celebrated Mike the Headless Chicken Day. The great popularity of headless Mike led to many farmers trying to repeat Olsen's success, but no one succeeded. Not a single chicken lived even a few hours, let alone a record-breaking period of time without a head - 18 months. So Miracle Mike became a kind of symbol of his hometown and a legend that the whole world is talking about.

Video "Mike the Headless Chicken"

Interview with Lloyd Olsen, owner of a unique rooster.

To be honest, when I first heard the story that a rooster was able to live without a head for a year and a half, I decided that it was a journalistic canard. Judge for yourself: the head is not some kind of wing, paw or beak. There is the brain, which is responsible for literally everything in an animal!..

Nevertheless, this incident occurred in the 1940s - during the era of photography, and therefore a lot of visual evidence of the phenomenon has been preserved. In addition, the bird’s headlessness was certified by scientists and the Guinness Book of Records, and in Mike’s cockerel’s hometown he is still revered as a national hero.

How Mike lost his head

Until September 10, 1945, the cockerel was a completely ordinary bird - it lived on one of the farms in the city of Fruita, Colorado, US, among dozens of its fellows. He didn’t even have a name then: he was called Mike much later, when his supernatural desire to survive was discovered. In general, this autumn day was supposed to be the last for our hero, since the owner of the farm, Clara Olsen, decided to cook chicken for dinner on the occasion of the arrival visiting her mother.

Clara's husband, Lloyd Olsen, took an ax, went to the chicken coop, caught a five and a half month old bird, laid it on the block and with one blow cut off the cockerel's head. The fact that he jumped up and ran with his head cut off did not really surprise Lloyd - I think many people have heard that headless chickens can move for about five minutes.

But something else struck the farmer: when he caught up with his victim, it turned out that he was walking among the other inhabitants of the poultry yard as if nothing had happened. The headless cockerel still did not die, and Lloyd Olsen decided to leave him alone and caught another bird for the table. And when the farmer entered the chicken coop in the morning, the headless rooster was sleeping peacefully on the perch, having tucked the bloody stump of his neck under his wing.

His mother-in-law saved him

Interested in the unusual case, Lloyd Olsen decided to help the bird survive. He came up with a way to feed her: he used a pipette to send grains and water directly into the esophagus. Sometimes the cockerel began to choke - mucus accumulated in his throat, and then the farmer had to pump it out with a syringe. Days passed, but the cockerel lived.

When a week had passed since the beheading, Lloyd decided to show this phenomenon to scientists and went to the University of Salt Lake City, located in Utah, 250 miles from Fruita. At first, scientists were stumped - not a single animal can live without a brain! But then, after doing a full examination of the cockerel, we figured out what was going on. It turns out that Mike’s life was saved by... Lloyd’s mother-in-law!

The fact is that the woman really loved chicken necks, and therefore, when cutting off the rooster’s head, Lloyd tried to preserve this part of the body as much as possible. That is why the ax blade passed without hitting the jugular vein, and the blood clotted, preventing Mike from dying from its loss. The spinal cord, which is responsible for most reflexes in birds, was also virtually undamaged. In addition, the cockerel had one auditory opening left, so he retained the ability to hear. Perhaps the only thing Mike lost when he lost his head was his eyesight and the ability to taste food. Otherwise, the cockerel, so to speak, was quite healthy.

Life after death

The rumor about Mike's fantastic vitality quickly spread throughout the States. The most popular American media colorfully talked about him, giving the cockerel the nickname “The Amazing Headless Chicken.” And, of course, soon enterprising people appeared on Olsen’s farm, who explained to Lloyd that he had a gold mine in his hands, and offered a lucrative contract. The farmer did not miss his luck and, taking his “golden cockerel”, went on a tour of America along with other unusual animals.

For example, a two-headed calf traveled as part of the “delegation”. New York, Atlantic City, Los Angeles, San Diego - everywhere Mike was greeted by enthusiastic fans and gladly parted with 25 cents for the opportunity to look at the headless rooster. At the peak of its popularity, this bird brought Lloyd a solid income - four and a half thousand dollars a month (at the 2010 exchange rate - $48 thousand), so the farmer even had to insure Mike.

Insurers estimated this phenomenon at 10 thousand dollars. His severed head also traveled with the cockerel: Lloyd carried it preserved in alcohol in a jar and showed it to everyone. Although there were rumors that the farmer cut off this head from another rooster, and the real one was eaten by a cat shortly after the cutting off. After all, no one knew then what kind of nugget the headless bird would turn out to be.

Death and immortality

Mike lived without a head for 18 months, turning from a young rooster weighing a little over a kilogram into a real seasoned rooster weighing about two and a half kilograms. And it is unknown how much longer this miracle of nature would have been running around the earth if the tragedy had not happened in March 1947. Once while traveling, Lloyd Olsen stopped at a hotel in Phoenix (Arizona), and there in the middle of the night Mike had an attack of suffocation. And Lloyd, as luck would have it, didn’t have a syringe on hand to clear the cockerel’s throat, and he suffocated.

This is how the famous “The Amazing Headless Chicken” died. But the fame of the wonderful Mike is still alive today. “He was a big fat cockerel who didn’t even seem to realize he didn’t have a head. “Mike seemed as happy as any other chicken,” remember Fruita residents who were lucky enough to see the wonderful bird.

Now a monument to a headless cockerel has been erected in this city, and since May 1999, the Mike the Headless Chicken festival has been held in Fruita. The festival program includes concerts, a running competition called “Run Like a Headless Chicken,” a car show, and throwing eggs at a distance. Visitors are also offered a varied menu of chicken dishes.

With an ax - for glory

Many in Fruita, jealous of farmer Lloyd Olsen's success, tried to replicate his successful ax blow. And quite a few chicken heads fell off due to the hope of their owners that one of the birds would be able to repeat Mike’s fate. But, alas, these heads fell completely in vain, since most of the chickens died soon after beheading, and only a few managed to live for a couple of days.

How long can a chicken live without a head?.. From a few seconds to 15 - 20 minutes a chicken without a head can live. This phenomenon is often observed by owners of personal farmsteads who kill the bird themselves. The sight of a body that gets to its feet, begins to walk, run, flapping its wings, making chaotic movements, trying to fly, 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 act 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 after 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 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 over, pick up or throw something without the help of brain signals. A headless chicken also reflexively continues to move if the spinal cord is not damaged by an ax or cleaver blow. But the chicken that lived without a head is not a fiction. A random coincidence of circumstances, inept actions become the cause of prolonged agony if the blow falls very high, almost near the skull. The spinal cord continues to issue commands to the muscles, causing the body to move, while the remaining blood circulates through the arteries and veins. The amazing story of a chicken that lived for 2 years without a head and ended up in the Guinness Book of Records. The myth that chickens can live without a head was inspired by the story of one chicken, which managed to become famous throughout the world and even get into the Guinness Book of Records. It is unknown what the cockerel himself went through during its existence with its head separated from its body, but its killer and owner earned a lot of capital by demonstrating the life-loving creature and touring with it in different cities. The nameless creature in the poultry yard was chosen by its owner for dinner. Trying to please his stepmother who came to visit, he cut off the head of a 5-month-old cockerel so as to preserve the neck, a woman’s favorite part. Olsen – that was the name of the bird’s owner from Colorado – decided to wait to see what would happen. He introduced food into the open esophagus and cleaned the trachea of mucus. Having learned about the miracle bird, curious people flocked to the farmer. And he started his own business, at first simply showing a cockerel, named Mike, for money, and then began to travel with him throughout the country. In just one month, Mike brought in about $5,000 in profit, which would be $48,000 today. Mike lived to be two years old, in 18 months without a head he grew into an adult rooster weighing 8 pounds. 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 blow, the cut arteries "stuck together", preventing much blood from leaking out. Thanks to this, he managed to live for so long, enrich his owner and receive the honor of being included in the Guinness Book of Records. A living organism will never reveal all its secrets to scientists, because any creature is unique and has its own characteristics. Mike, whose record has not been broken since 1945, only confirms this.

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 passionate about chicken. This worthy woman preferred the neck to other parts of the chicken body. Therefore, he chopped the rooster carefully, trying to preserve as much of the neck as possible. Well, even so, it doesn’t take long to chop off a rooster’s head: once – and you’re done. Done, but not quite. Having lost his head, Mike the rooster began to wander 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 a few minutes after the beheading.

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

Happened.

The headless rooster lived. When he began to choke on his own secretions, Lloyd cleared his trachea with a syringe or an enema. Days passed - Mike did not even think about dying. Rumors spread about the headless rooster. Many doubted. To avoid being branded as a storyteller, Olsen took Mike and went with him to Colorado State University, where experts examined Mike, after which they publicly confirmed that the unprecedented rumors about a headless rooster were true.

Such is the knacker's story.