Hen sitting on rooster to lay an egg??

[ev-chicka]

I have a couple broody hens in my coop sitting on eggs, and even tho there are still several nest boxes one of my other hens has started laying in the corner of the coop. The rooster then stands beside her as if you guard her from the others. I imagine this is just him protecting that girl in particular.

Today when doing this egg laying and protecting he actually ended up under her and she was sitting on him as if he was her nest. Anyone have this before or know what the intention is or purpose for this behaviour? Just curious. It has gotten hot here the past few days so maybe something to do with her being hot while laying? (Not that I think he’d be a cooler option than laying on the ground!)

Here’s a pic of the duo!

 

[centrarchid]

I bet he is trying to tell hen where to place a nest, becuase she or another hen is indicating wanting to find a nest to lay an egg. Typically, the rooster does his bit only once per lay cycle with a given hen. Domestic chickens may have breeding system a little messed up through mutation / inbreeding. Such a problem would not be on radar of most if any breeders since does not impact appearance related to standard of perfection nor impact productivity.