I did a little research and found out she has scaly legs. These are actually mites that dig into the legs and lift the scales of their skin up. It can cause serious injuries and even kill the birds if it gets bad enough.
The best solutions that I read were to wash and clean their legs with a tooth brush scrubbing between the scales and then to put on various treatments. Some of the treatments were easy, like Vasoline. I purchased a spray that said it would help and got to work.
I cleaned each and every chicken. I did see some signs of possible scaly leg on a few other birds.
And then I even saw lice on one of them.
I had gotten rid of the lice a few months ago, it was an quick and easy fix. However, since we feed the wild birds with our bird feeders, my chickens are bound to get lice again (and again and again) since the wild birds will continuously bring it back. Luckily, I have the supplies on hand to clear up lice and so I treated each of the birds for lice as I was cleaning their feet.
Another pair of clean feet with signs of scaly leg.
They were not very happy to have me holding them down and doing this.
Mary Anne's legs were definitely the worst. After I cleaned them, it was even more clear how bad things were so I decided that I would buy some cream I read about and re-treat them on Monday after work.
I've heard stories about birds falling asleep while being held. I wasn't so lucky, but Mary Anne did close her eyes when I'd touch her beak.
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