So much great help! Thanks Ridgerunner! I'll take the cage up today and let them integrate. They have already been socializing "a little" each day, when I go in and open up the broody pen to change water and feed for Momma and babies... and I have seen that Momma does protect them if another...
Hi Ridgerunner,
You have described just what we did with our broody Momma. She is also less than a year, and she did great with setting and hatching. Just before hatch time, we moved her to a small caged area below the (elevated) nest boxes, separated from the flock by a "wall" of hardware...