Longest Surviving Headless Chicken Mystery Cache

World Record!

The cache is located at;
N 36 47.7AB
W 121 40.CDE

Life Magazine

In an issue of Life Magazine published over fifty years ago (when a magazine was made of paper and cost a dime) it was reported that a Wyandotte chicken belonging to Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, USA, had its head chopped off, but went on to survive for several months. For reasons unknown, the owner named the hapless and headless chicken, Mike. Mike's owner fed and watered the headless chicken directly into his gullet using an eyedropper.

Sceptical Scientists

Sceptical scientists thought it was a hoax, so one week into Mike-the-headless-chicken’s physically-altered life, farmer Lloyd Olsen packed Mike up and took him on a cross-country tour from Fruita, Colorado to the University Of Utah in Salt Lake City. The axe blade, scientists discovered, had missed the five-and-a-half month old Wyandotte rooster’s jugular vein, and a clot had saved the chicken from bleeding to death.

Because Lloyd had aimed the axe so high, most of the brain stem was left at the top of the spine. One ear had also survived. Mike, it seemed, had lost the power to see and to cluck, but could still hear and think. Mike was also growing, weighing 1.1 kg. (2.5 lb.) when he first lost his head, and developing to a respectable 3.6 kg. (8 lb.) by the time he passed away.

Celebrity Status

Celebrity status was guaranteed when a manager took the chicken on a national tour, and his story was reported in well-respected news magazines Life and Time. Like many legendary celebrities, Mike’s life ended in a hotel room. Mike began to choke and Lloyd was unable to find the eyedropper to clear Mike’s esophagus. It was the end of the road for Mighty Mike. Gone but certainly not forgotten, Mike’s life is celebrated each year by Fruita residents, who simply remember him as, “a big, fat chicken who didn’t know he didn’t have a head”.

About the Cache

The container, officially listed as small, is actually much larger. It is a container within a container. The larger container will be immediately recognized by the geocacher as it is unusual (to say the least) and is not camouflaged and does not fit into its environment. The encapsulated inner container is actually a Beaver Brand Hot Horseradish jar that contains a log and a few trade items. The container is a few feet off an established interior trail at Manzanita Park. Remember to bring a pen.

The Puzzle

AB = Mike's headless lifespan in months.
CDE = The last three digits of the year of Mike's birth... ahhh... errr... hatch.