Megapodes do not sit on their eggs. The malleefowl digs a pit, fills it with leaf litter that decomposes and generates heat, then covers the whole thing with sand to make a mound often several metres across. Eggs are laid into a chamber inside it over months, and the female may lay a dozen or more across a season.
The male's work is thermostatic. He opens the mound in the cool of the morning to vent heat, or piles sand on to insulate it, and appears to gauge temperature by taking mound material into his bill or mouth. Measurements show the egg chamber held remarkably close to about 33 degrees Celsius across widely varying weather.
The chicks get no help at all. They hatch underground, dig their way out over many hours, and run off alone. They can flutter within a day and receive no parental care whatsoever.