Hi and a few questions.

Hi,
I've been digging around this site for several months now and as I have nearly completed by Hen's Den I thought I should say hello and thanks for all the useful info around here. We live in France on the edge of the Pays d'Auge n Normandy. My 3 daughters have been pestering me for some egg laying hens for some time so now the garden and house renovations are nearly complete I can delay no longer

I have not bought the chooks yet, this will wait until after our summer holiday in July, but I have finished building the coop and prepared the site for the run. I've just the cage/fencing to sort out.

The intention sis to have 3 small Bantam henss ( 1 for each of my daughters ).
Here are a few pics of the coop and site.

The coop is 4'x2'x2' high at the back. The roof hinges forward to facilitate cleaning. The floor boards are loose fitted also for easy cleaning.










I would welcome opinions as to the suitability of the coop. It is basically made form our old garage doors.

Perhaps I should have asked these questions before I started but the design kind of flowed as I built it.
The slope of the ramp is about 35 degrees, is this OK? 
Are the rungs spaced correctly (5" apart) and are they large enough?
The perches are about 6" off the floor with 16" of headroom, is this sufficient?
The door is 12" x 8".
The only ventilation I have allowed currently are the gaps under the ridges of the corrugated roofing (onduline) is this sufficient or do I need to add more?

The coop will sit at one end of bricked area which measures 120cm by 2.8m which I hope to be able to make predator proof with 1/2" weld mesh to a height of 90cms with a detachable mesh roof.  The rest of the grassed area will be fenced just to keep the hens in and cut in half so they destroy only one half had at a time.

Are there any other french living ex-pats here as I would welcome some info on pest control products available in France, where to buy food & supplies etc.

many thanks

Andy

Thanks, we are very much in the country , so rats could be a problem ( the missus even saw a stoat/weasel  type creature last year) so a wire mesh under the onduline sounds like good advise.
I'l have to cogitate on how to fix is though.

Cheers

Andy

Shame, I not not spot that post on my earlier visits. I'll have enough mesh left over when I do the fence ( if I did my sums right) so I'll be be blocking up those holes.

Cheers
Andy