Chicken flies

[Jonathan]

Well, my first chickens are doing well. 18 pullets and one cockeral doing his best to imitate a rooster. His first attempts to crow sounded like a broken kazoo. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] After a week he's getting better and sounds like a properly working kazoo. They're slightly over 3 months old, and I'm noticing flies gathering round the coop. I use straw in the coop, clean it out weekly, and rake all the droppings I see on the ground. Still there are flies. Should I be concerned? Any suggestions for controlling them? Thanks in advance.

[JoeR]

Usually, chickens eat anything that moves... Once they get older, there will not be too many flies around.

Although, some people use hydrated lime or DE (diatamaceous earth sp?) My coop is on skids, so I just drag it into another location.

Joe