On September
10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, United States, was eating
supper with his mother-in-law and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring
back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-and-a-half-month-old cockerel named Mike.
The axe missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem
intact.
Despite
Olsen's failed attempt to behead Mike, Mike was still able to balance on a
perch and walk clumsily; he even attempted to preen and crow, although he could
do neither. When the bird did not die, Mr. Olsen, who was surprised, decided to
continue to care permanently for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water
via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn.
When used to
his new and unusual center of mass, Mike could easily get himself to the
highest perches without falling. His crowing, though, consisted of a gurgling
sound made in his throat. Mike also spent his time attempting to preen and peck
for food with his neck.
Once his fame
had been established, Mike began a career of touring sideshows in the company
of such other creatures as a two-headed calf. He was also photographed for
dozens of magazines and papers, featuring in Time and Life magazines.
Mike was on
display to the public for an admission cost of twenty five cents. At the height
of his popularity, the chicken earned US$4,500 per month ($48,000 in 2010
dollars) and was valued at $10,000.[2] Olsen's success resulted in a wave of
copycat chicken beheading, but no other chicken lived for more than a day or
two.
In March
1947, at a motel in Phoenix on a stopover while traveling back from tour, Mike
started choking in the middle of the night. The Olsens had inadvertently left
their feeding and cleaning syringes at the sideshow the day before, and so were
unable to save Mike. Olsen claimed that he had sold the bird off, resulting in
stories of Mike still touring the country as late as 1949. Other sources say
that the chicken's severed trachea could not take in enough air properly to be
able to breathe; and therefore choked to death in the motel.
In life, anything is possible, never give up. Happy new year Y'all
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