Condensation from increased ventilation?

[Time-Out]

Snow? We have no snow lol only rain, rain and more rain :-( Nor shingles. It is corrugated roofing.

It has actually gotten much better. I haven't seen any more drips and the ceiling doesn't seem as wet. I'm giving it another week to settle some more and then I'll change the bedding. I'd like it to settle as I'd like to keep the trees low. There is much more light coming in through the soffits (let me know if I'm not using the word correctly here) now.

Here's a pic of the before and after cutting the trees back.




Here is a pic of the front.

It is very spacious. The windows are the two areas above the doors. They get blocked in over winter as the cold air blows over the chickens as they roost.
There is 35sqft of ventilation in total, in a building that is 7.5ft tall. If I put 12 chickens in a gymnasium, I wouldn't expect there to be condensation next morning because there isn't exactly 12sqft of ventilation. I realise this isn't quite a gymnasium, but it's much bigger than most people's coops. Certainly bigger than any over here, where they recommend 1sqft per bird and have a tiny slit for ventilation...

In this shot, you can see the condensation on the inside of the plastic sheet and the drips that were caught in the cobweb.

That's just the right amount.............for 12 chickens.
You need a LOT more venting

Are you a journalist? If you're going to quote me, at least make sure you get the whole sentence. That was on one side.

Just FYI, the birds in there are as follows:
3 Sebrights (of which 2 growers)
1 sabelpoot
6 dutch bantam growers
7 barnevelder bantam growers
1 appenzeller grower
1 silkie
1 barnevelder
4 cream legbar growers
3 vorwerks
10 araucanas (of which 8 growers)

A bit of a motley crew lol

 

[dsedler]

This is actually fairly normal for any building that has a metal roof without insulation. I have a pole barn that does not have the roof insulated and mine does the same thing. Usually in the morning when the sun first starts hitting the roof and making the roof warmer than the air on the inside. It drips for a couple of hours in the morning until the temperatures equalize. I want to say it happens when the air inside is cooler than the roof, but i may have that backward. My husband has the same size building that he uses as a garage, but he did get the roof insulated when it was being built and his never drips. It's just the rolls of aluminum backed insulation, not the batts that you would find in the walls of a house.
You are probably getting the condensation now since the sun can hit the roof directly without the trees shading it. Mine only does it during certain times of the year, so you shouldn't have to deal with it all the time. Sometimes it drips so bad it almost looks like it's raining and you can see the drip lines on the concrete floor!

 

[canesisters]

My stable does this too. It's 30x40 and in the spring and fall it rains in there every morning. It also has a plain 'ol metal roof. Mine seems to be when frost forms on the inside of the roof at night. As soon as the sun warms the roof (7-8:00am) down comes the rain.
Since chickens don't do well in a damp environment, you'll have to figure out something. Is it just that the moist, warm air inside is contacting the cold metal? Maybe some of that foam board stuff to insulate the metal?? Or a few dozen cans of 'Great Stuff' to use as spray on insulation. Maybe something as simple as a temp 'ceiling' inside to divert the drips away from the bedding and chickens - like a tarp that would direct the water to the warmest/sunniest side?

 

[Time-Out]

Wow. That's pretty bad. I haven't seen any condensation on the metal roof in a couple of weeks now. It still forms on the one bit of plastic, though. We put that in, to increase daylight inside. I've never seen it rain and the cobweb is no longer full of water, so it's definitely better than it was. I'll definitely look at diverting it, if it does rain down. What I'll do is move the bedding out the way and pop some dishes on the floor to see how bad it is. With it being only one sheet of roofing, it'll be much easier than if it was still the whole roof!

Thanks for the help guys.

Unfortunately, in the UK, you can't get away from the damp. As if that's not bad enough, it's worse where the chickens are. The ground just stays so wet all the time. I recently turfed one of the runs, hoping that'd help. It's now like a sponge lol

 

[duckinnut]

My thinking is now that the sun can hit the area and more of the building it is the root of your problem. The ground always has a certain amount of moisture in it and the causes it to evaporate and inside the building as well( I assume there is a dirt floor in there). I believe that the moisture is more evaporating than condensation due to temp changes although condensation may play a part.