Quail Egg Production Calculator

How many eggs do quail lay?

Coturnix quail lay up to 280 to 300 eggs per year, which outpaces most chicken breeds on a per-bird basis. They start laying at just 7 weeks, where chickens take 18 to 22 weeks to reach point of lay. That early start changes the entire economic picture.

Those yearly totals assume the hens get 14 to 16 hours of light a day. Coturnix are light-driven layers, so in the short days of autumn and winter production falls off unless you add a timer and a low-wattage bulb to hold the day length up. A flock laying well in June can drop by half in December with no extra light.

Production decline in the second year is gentler than chickens: roughly 85 percent of year one, compared to about 75 percent for hens. Quail eggs are smaller, about one-fifth the size of a chicken egg, but the birds lay so frequently that the eggs-per-bird count more than makes up for the size difference.

A note on where these figures come from. We built this calculator because backyard quail economics are poorly documented online and usually borrowed from chicken numbers that do not transfer. The production figures here are calibrated against gamebird laying data. If your flock performs differently, the contact page is at the top of the site.

Quail egg yield by species and age

These are the per-hen figures the calculator scores against. They assume good gamebird feed and 14 to 16 hours of daily light; short winter days without supplemental lighting will pull every number down.

Bobwhite lay less than Coturnix and are more seasonal, so treat their figures as an upper bound for a well-lit, well-fed flock rather than a year-round guarantee.

The quail egg market advantage

Quail eggs sell for $3 to $8 per dozen at farmers markets, against $4 to $6 for chicken eggs. Specialty grocery stores, Asian markets, and sushi restaurants actively seek them out, so demand is steadier than it is for backyard chicken eggs.

The per-unit premium more than compensates for the smaller size. A flock of 20 Coturnix can generate meaningful side income in a way that 20 chickens in a city cannot, partly because zoning rules almost always allow more quail than chickens, and partly because the buyers are different. Quail eggs are a specialty product, not a commodity.

Quail vs chicken egg economics

Run the numbers on a 10-bird Coturnix flock and the contrast with chickens is stark:

• 10 Coturnix hens produce roughly 2,800 eggs per year, or 233 dozen.
• Feed runs roughly $6 to $8 a month, about $72 to $96 a year for 10 birds, depending on bag price and how many males you feed.
• At $4 per dozen, the annual egg value is roughly $930.
• Net savings land in the mid-$800s after feed.

For comparison, 10 chickens produce about 2,400 eggs but cost roughly $250 per year in feed. The quail flock produces more eggs for a fraction of the feed bill, and on a much smaller footprint.

One honest caveat: that egg value is only real if you actually eat or sell the eggs. If you would not otherwise buy 200-plus dozen quail eggs a year, read the figure as the grocery cost you avoid plus whatever you sell, not pure profit.

Common mistakes

1. Keeping too many males. Males do not lay, so a male-heavy flock drags down overall egg production.
2. Not separating eggs daily. Quail will quickly eat cracked or dirty eggs left in the cage.
3. Letting winter day length stop the flock. Without 14 to 16 hours of light, laying slows or stops in the dark months.
4. Assuming quail eggs taste the same as chicken. They are richer and distinctly flavored, which is a selling point rather than a drawback.

Where to go next

Egg yield connects to the other quail decisions and the chicken comparison:

• The Quail Feed Cost Calculator gives you the monthly feed figure this calculator needs as an input.
• The Quail Cage Size Calculator tells you how many hens your space can support.
• The Egg Production Calculator runs the same numbers for a flock of chickens.
• The Family Egg Calculator works out how many layers your household actually needs.