During our recent heat wave, Big Muff was undaunted. it didn't matter how many times we caught her, she could always be found right back on the concrete pad outside our garage. We really worried about her, because the temperature on the concrete was stifling. She'd sit there and pant and we'd try to catch her without causing her stress.
Then, as I was mulching our beds, I found out why Big Muff was so insistent. She had been making her own clutch of eggs right next to our front door under the arborvitae. I couldn't believe it! There were twelve beautiful green eggs that the raccoons, who are around every night, had not touched.
So, I kept an eye out, and sure enough, Big Muff eventually made her way to her nest and went right in.
I decided to pick her up and put her back in her coop. Then I promptly cleaned out the eggs. This seems to have broken whatever cycle she had going. Now, she's laying in the nest where she's supposed to lay her eggs.
I'll never know if it was the unbearable heat, although she picked a hotter spot than her coop, or having a rooster around, that made her decide to build a nest. But, it was really cool to see.