Mike was fed with liquid food and water that the Olsens dropped directly into his oesophagus. Another vital bodily function they helped with was clearing mucus from his throat. They fed him with a dropper, and cleared his throat with a syringe. The night Mike died, they were woken in their motel room by the sound of the bird choking. When they looked for the syringe they realised they had left it at the sideshow, and before they could find an alternative, Mike suffocated....
For a human to lose his or her head would involve an almost total loss of the brain. For a chicken, it's rather different. "You'd be amazed how little brain there is in the front of the head of a chicken," says [Dr Tom Smulders, a chicken expert at the Centre for Behaviour and Evolution at Newcastle University]....
Why those who tried to create a Mike of their own did not succeed is hard to explain. It seems the cut, in Mike's case, came in just the right place, and a timely blood clot luckily prevented him bleeding to death....
September 10, 2015
"Seventy years ago, a farmer beheaded a chicken in Colorado, and it refused to die."
"Mike, as the bird became known, survived for 18 months and became famous. But how did he live without a head for so long...."
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Chickens are such nasty little animals. Bugs with feather. Delicious bugs with feathers.
Ah, chickens.
In 1932, little Mary O'Connor of Savannah, Georgia, taught her pet chicken to walk backwards, and was filmed doing so by Pathé News.
That's Mary Flannery O'Connor.
I take issue with the word 'refused' here, in as much as that suggests some kind of thought/will.
The night Mike died, they were woken in their motel room by the sound of the bird choking.
OMG! You really can die from choking the chicken! The nuns spoke the truth!
When I was quite young (< 9), my family lived in a rural area. One day, my father brought home some live chickens. He then proceeded to chop off their heads with a hatchet. A couple of them got loose and flew up into a tree. They perched there for several minutes before blood loss caused them to fall to the ground. I'd heard the expression "like a chicken with its head cut off" but that was my first time to see it, or to see chickens fly. We cleaned the chickens and froze them. They fed our family for many good meals.
My Dad said they always just picked up the chickens by their heads, and shook them, snapping their necks. Sometimes put them in bags before doing this so they couldn't run around while dead.
I hate Mike abuse.
(Shaking a chicken like that would probably warrant a jail sentence in Iran, so don't try it while there).
I dreamed I saw a chicken last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But chicken, you're ten years dead,"
"I never died," says he.
"I never died," says he.
"In Salt Lake, chicken," says I to him,
Him standing by my bed,
"They framed you on a murder charge,"
Says chicken, "But I ain't dead,"
Says chicken, "But I ain't dead."
"The copper bosses killed you, chicken,
They shot you, chicken," says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a fryer,"
Says chicken, "I didn't die,"
Says chicken, "I didn't die."
And standing there as big as life
And smiling with his neck stump
Says chicken, "What they forgot to kill
Went on to organize,
Went on to organize."
"a chicken ain't dead," he says to me,
"a chicken ain't never died.
Where working men are out on strike
a chicken is at their side,
a chicken is at their side."
From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill -
Where working men defend their rights
It's there you'll find a chicken.
It's there you'll find a chicken.
I dreamed I saw a chicken last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But chicken, you're ten years dead",
"I never died," says he.
"I never died," says he.
I was just saying yesterday that I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
@Scott,
Joan Baez called, and she wants to have a word with you.
She didn't sound happy, either.
@YoungHegelian: I tried to find a song about chickens that I could plug "Joe Hill" into, but the name just kills any song it touches.
For example, the theme song from Super Chicken:
When you find youself in danger,
When you're threatened by a stranger,
When it looks like you will take a lickin', (puk, puk, puk)
There is someone waiting,
Who will hurry up and rescue you,
Just Call for Joe Hill! (puk ack!)
Fred, if you're afraid you'll have to overlook it,
Besides you knew the job was dangerous when you took it (puk ack!)
He will drink his super sauce
And throw the bad guys for a loss
And he will bring them in alive and kickin' (puk, puk, puk)
There is one thing you should learn
When there is no one else to turn to
Call for Joe Hill! (puk, puk, puk)
Call for Joe Hill! (puk ack!)
@Scott,
Jay Ward called. He says he knows where you live.
Says I, "But Jay Ward, you're twenty-five years dead,"
"I never died," says he.
"I never died," says he.
Althouse goes meta with a detailed but symbolic post about the state of politics in the United States!
Like a miracle chicken, running around with its head cut off, as long as some benevolent elite doesn't forget to clear out the mucus and drop in the feed.
I, for one, prefer living chickens to keep their heads, and to be able to feed themselves and not choke. Chickens without heads exist only in side shows, as freaks, yet the US insists on creating as many as possible. Yes, I am a conservative.
It's the Itchy and Scratchy Show!
An attorney, cross-examining the local coroner, queried, "Before you signed the death certificate had you taken the man's pulse?"
"No," the coroner replied.
"Well, then, did you listen for a heart beat?"
The coroner answered, "No."
"Did you check for respiration? Breathing?", asked the attorney.
Again the coroner replied, "No."
"Ah," the attorney said, "So when you signed the death certificate you had not taken any steps to make sure the man was dead, had you?"
The coroner rolled his eyes, and shot back "Counselor, at the time I signed the death certificate the man's brain was sitting in a jar on my desk. But I can see your point. For all I know he could be out there practicing law somewhere."
For years Fruita Colorado had a headless chicken festival. They gave out headless chicken awards, generally to politicians. In recent decades they have decided there is more money in dinosaurs and mountain bikers.
I've been on line too long.
Mike has had his own web site for years and I'm guilty of bookmarking it a long time ago.
http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/history
Super Chicken episode.
Mike, as the bird became known, survived for 18 months and became famous. But how did he live without a head for so long...."
He became a Democrat
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