Coturnix Quail: The Best Game Bird For Small Spaces

Learn everything you need to know about how to raise Coturnix quail. This quail is the best game bird for small spaces, so you can raise them in the city or countryside.

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by AdobeStock/Vladimir Wrangel

Learn everything you need to know about how to raise Coturnix quail. This quail is the best game bird for small spaces, so you can raise them in the city or countryside.

The Japanese call the birds uzura, and have raised them for centuries. Early American colonists called them “Bible quail” and found them to be economical providers of protein. Modern homesteaders, however, refer to them as Coturnix (from their generic name) and delight in the virtues of these astounding little fowl. Coturnix quail, you see, require no more care than do chickens, but they mature faster, produce more eggs, need less food and space, and have more uses than virtually any other kind of domestic poultry!

I was first introduced to the small birds seven years ago, when I was looking for a type of fowl I could raise on my half-acre garden in New York City. To my delight, I discovered that quail can be propagated right on the balcony of a high-rise urban apartment in sufficient numbers to make a profitable business! Furthermore, even though they’re classified as game birds–which makes them a gourmet delicacy–no license is required to raise them.

There are six Coturnix quail varieties, which differ from one another primarily in size and color: British Range, Tuxedo, English White, Manchurian Golden, Pharoah D1, and the comparatively new Australian Speckled Fawn. Of these, the Pharoah D1 is both the largest and the best egg producer.

  • Updated on Oct 29, 2022
  • Originally Published on Sep 1, 1981
Tagged with: backyard quail, game birds, quail
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