What breed would this be...

[ND Sue]

Sorry, I don't have a picture and I never saw it myself.

But my husband said on the road that goes by our house, he saw a chicken (he thinks) that had what looked like a mullet to him and it puffed up in the neck and under jaw with air and made a weird noise as it exhaled, almost like a grouse would. At the same time, it had some long feathers that were on the sides of it's head that lifted up when the neck was puffed up. It had bright yellow over the eyes and the "air bag" as he calls it, on the neck, was also bright yellow. No tail and banty sized.

I showed him Americana/EE pics and he said no, he didn't think it was that.

He stopped to see if he could catch it and it stayed just out of reach, but didn't appear afraid like a wild bird would be. He finally had to leave before he was late and he said he looked in his mirror and saw that the chicken was chasing after his truck.

We're going to try and see if it comes to grain tomorrow so we can catch it. If not, at least I'll try for a pic.

Does this sound like any chicken you've heard of, with the air sac on the neck that puffs up?

 

[canada-goose]

That doesn't sound like a chicken to me.

 

[PotterWatch]

I don't think it was a chicken. Some kind of pheasant maybe?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Look up grouses in your area or prairie chickens, but I don't think the PCs have the air sac thingy you are talking about. Sounds more like a grouse.

 

[LindsayB]

I think you saw a prairie chicken. They have the yellow air sacs and feathers on the head that come up when they call. And I believe you can hunt them too

 

[LindsayB]

did it look like this? this is a male prairie chicken...

 

[ND Sue]

Thanks Lindsay! He says that's it!! Only more yellow around the head, so maybe a female or younger.
Isn't that weird? It was so tame sounding. He said it laid down right next to him and stayed just out of arm's reach, but wasn't scared. He thought for sure it was someone's pet because it was so friendly and wanted attention, yet was a little wary. How strange! We also had other chickens dropped off at our place, so figured someone had another one to get rid of!
Thanks so much for the info everyone!

Edited to add: I better also say that since I now see it's not a tame domesticated bird, we won't try to catch it! Although it may be a cool cross with my little banty red whatever cross! lol!