Barn ceiling dripping

[Minky]

My barn is about 35 x 17. Earthen floor, metal roof, metal walls, no insulation, except a few walls have a thick sort of felt board on them, but even those have been chewed on by sheep/horses etc.
I have a good 10 inches or more of straw on the ground, and I practice the deep litter method.

In the barn : 25 hens, 2 roosters, and 9 goats.

On days like today when I am doing my barn chores, I get dripped on. Quite a lot. Here and there. Drip drip drip. I look up- and I can see that there is ice on the underside of the roof, and its dripping.

Does this mean that my barn needs ventilation? I always assumed the ventilation was fine because its a 30 year old barn with lots of spaces where the sliding doors move/close/open, and has nail holes in the metal walls here and there.

What should I do? I won't be doing anything til late spring-- but how should I fix the problem? Any ideas would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[21hens-incharge]

Yeah I think you need ventilation.

Maybe a cupola or two?
https://www.familyhandyman.com/roof/how-to-build-a-cupola/view-all/

or flat vents on both ends of the barn up high to let the warm moist air out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Metal usually has condensation issues, moisture rises up, sticks on it, freezes, and then drips back down.

Ventilation will help some, so would some sort of ceiling under the roof to help catch drips and channel them away from the center of the structure, though I don't know how difficult/practical that would be to install at this point.

 

[jthornton]

Ventilation won't help stop a metal roof from condensing moisture out of the air. I have a metal carport with no animals, no sides only a roof and when the temperature of the metal is right and the air is right moisture from the air will condense on the underside and maybe the top too, but I've never looked. The only thing that will stop that is to insulate the roof or make the air very dry inside the barn.

JT