Quail: The Tiny, Mighty Homestead Bird

By Francis Roland, Youth Contributor

What do you think of when you hear “quail”? Do you just think of alphabet books with a picture of a little bird next to the letter Q? Today, I'm going to teach you more than you ever thought there was to know about quail.

Quail come in all different colors and sizes. They are found all around the world/ The most common breed of quail is the California quail. They are the ones with a question-mark-shaped feather on their heads.

There are quail that weigh two to three pounds, like the Courier and Bob-white. There are also ones that weigh three to five pounds like the Gambil and Californian. Most are brown but they can be white, gray, blue, tan, and black as well as many other colors.

I'm going to be talking about the Cornix quail which is one of the most common quail to raise. They are about the size of an average tennis ball and lay eggs the size of ping-pong balls.

They are very easy and affordable to raise. You can find them at your local hatchery or farm store.

Cornix quail are usually about $5 each. The feed is also easy to find. We give our chicken grower with at least 16 % protein mixed with sunflower, corn, oat, or whatever grain we have.

You can also tractor (graze in a portable pen) the quail and feed them your kitchen scraps. The average amount of food a quail eats in its lifetime is 30 pounds. In that same amount of time, that quail can lay 750 eggs. The average cost of raising a quail for an entire life cycle is about $20.

How to Get Started with Quail

First, we should start with the question, “Do I want to raise quail?” Quail are great for meat, eggs, money, and fun. They are easy and cheap to raise, so here are the steps to starting your own quail flock.

First, you will need fine bedding in the brooder like wood chips or chaff in a thin layer. You can use a plastic storage tote as your brooder. On top of it, you will need a heat lamp and a screen so they cannot fly out.

For the feeder, you can use a regular chick feeder. However, for your waterer, you will need a special base or need to add rocks to the bottom of a regular chick waterer to keep the quail chicks from drowning. In one storage tote, you can brood about 20 chicks.

After around two and a half to three weeks, the quail are ready to go to their coop. Their coop should have a run (a fenced-in area) that is enclosed with hardware cloth because raccoons can rip through chicken wire, and a (shelter) box made of wood or other material that blocks sunlight.

Your coop should have a minimum of one square foot per bird. You should provide them with shade and some protection from the wind but be sure to let them have plenty of sunlight or they won't lay unless you provide artificial light.

Inside your coop, you can use any feeder but to not waste as much feed, you can put a container under the feeder to catch the grain that gets knocked out. You should also give them a bowl of sawdust or dry dirt so they can take dust baths. If you set it up the right way, you can take care of feed and water once per week and just collect eggs once per day.

The Economics of Quail

Quail eggs are 2/3 yolk and about the size of a quarter. Three quail eggs equal one chicken egg. Each hen on average will lay 250 eggs per year. They begin laying at between five to seven weeks of age.

You can harvest them for meat at about five weeks, too. The meat is dark and tasty. Each quail weighs about one pound after butchering. They are very easy to process.

Fifty-pound feed bag costs about $20. You can feed five quail for one year with just one bag of feed. A quail is ready to harvest in just about one month. So over the course of a year, you can raise 60 quail for meat or eggs for the cost of one bag of feed. (12 months x 5 quail = 60 quail for one year).

Each quail will cost 33 cents to raise to maturity and you can find chicks for $3-$5 per chick. This means that it will cost you between $3.33 and $5.33 to raise one quail for meat.

If you are just looking for eggs, you can start with the same $20 bag of feed. This will feed 5 quail for an entire year. Which will cost you $4 per quail for the year. Each hen will lay about 250 eggs which means each egg will cost you only 2 cents to produce. Three quail eggs equal one chicken egg. So for $0.72, you can get the equivalent of one dozen chicken eggs. That means you will get the equivalent of 83 chicken eggs for just $4 of feed. Your total first-year costs will be $7- $9. Most chicken eggs cost around $4 per dozen at this point.

You can raise quail virtually anywhere. They need very little space and are very hardy. Quail can survive temperatures between -20 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit without any special care. Even if you live in town or in a city, you can have them in a tiny coop in your yard, garage, or anywhere that they can get good sunlight if you are raising them for eggs. Now you know all the reasons you should raise quail.