Do guineas lay eggs in a nesting box?

[Junkybird]

I found a much smaller, brown egg in one of our nesting boxes yesterday. It was about half the size of a chicken egg. Our chickens have never laid an egg that small before, so I am assuming that it is from the only female guinea that we have. It was sort of cone shaped at one end, but not extremely pronounced.

We have a huge, old mirror in the coop where we keep the guineas and chickens and it is laid against one of the walls. I was hoping that behind it would be where she would lay (and possibly go broody!) Do guineas ever lay in nest boxes? The nest boxes are in pairs 3,4 and 5 feet off the ground. Unfortunately I can't remember which one she laid it in and I don't have a picture of the egg because I already ate it!

Clue me in as to the laying habits of guineas . . .

Thanks!

 

[cracking up]

Mine laid their first few eggs in a nest box and I think I should have marked them and left some there. Since I took their first eggs away they are laying on the ground in the feed stall and there is another clutch where we are going to put in our vegetable garden.

 

[speckledhen]

They are natural ground nesters. I leaned some plywood against a wall and put straw under it on the floor. That's where they prefer, generally.

 

[houndit]

My lavender hen laid hers in a nest some. The pearl hens always laid on the ground.