As poster above said, keep them locked in for 4-6 month, Raise some youngsters of them and get them flying(by themselves) well around the loft. Then, one nice afternoon let youngsters fly first and when they land on the loft let the 'prisoners' go. Good luck.
As promised, here is the description of my auto chicken coup door opener.
I'm not going into detail about mechanical aspect of it because there are plenty suggestions and ideas how to accomplish it. Instead I'm going to explain the electrical components part. Components used, Car power antenna...
"Hi there, this is awesome. Is there a way to set it up to use a light sensor instead of a timer? I worry about forgetting to change the timer and having this thing close before my hens get inside.
Thanks!"
Yes, that's what I did. Use 'Time Delay ON' timer. My setup consists power antenna...
As title said I'm not new to raising chickens and other feathered creatures. I'm retired and right now in process of converting my pigeon loft (where breeders were housed) to chicken coup. Other loft was sold along with my racing team in 2007, so I was without any birds for a while. I'm planning...