Home Fresh Eggs: How to Raise Quail on Your Balcony

When Vancouver finally passed the bylaw allowing backyard hens, I was elated. It was such a great move toward self-sufficiency and food security in the city, especially in a climate of disconnection and corporate control when it comes to food.

The only problem was, I didn’t have a backyard. Condo life is great in many ways: high-density housing is the answer to a lot of urban- planning problems, sprawling backyards for everyone is simply not sustainable, and let’s face it, real estate prices are a big limitation. And whether living in a condo is a choice or a necessity, there are definite advantages to the convenience, location, and maybe views, if you’re lucky, of urban apartment living. I really do enjoy those things, and yet ... I couldn’t stop imagining mornings when I’d go outside to open the little coop, the gentle clucks of the hens, the warm eggs collected from soft straw nests. I thought about the happy chickens foraging contentedly in the yard. I thought about being able to turn my kitchen scraps into food. And of course I thought about the fresh eggs, made in the healthiest and most ethical way possible, all outside my back door. Sigh.

I thought about it some more and imagined it some more, and yeah, maybe got a little obsessive. I thought if apartments are good enough for people, dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, and the odd pet bird, why not a chicken? There’s some comedic value in an indoor chicken, right? I mean, it’s not like it’s totally crazy or anything, right? Sure you’d have to deal with a bird waking you up at dawn, and you’d need to keep straw in the broom closet for lining the nest, and somehow you’d figure out how to keep her “fertilizer” off the furniture (did you know you can buy chicken diapers online?), but that’s totally doable, right? Right?? Sigh.

Well I’m here to suggest an alternative—a less crazy alternative for the apartment dwellers out there who dream of fresh eggs. A small-space, easy-to-clean alternative for those who have backyards but aren’t ready for the full backyard-hen deal. And that alternative is quail.

As well as being the dandies of the bird world—with the beautiful colouring and fancy head plumes of the wild California quail— domesticated quail have been kept for centuries in Asia for their eggs and meat. Japanese quail can have astonishing egg production, laying almost every day, and the eggs are huge compared to the hens’ body size. Picture eggs larger than the hens’ heads, and around 7 per cent of their body weight. That’s amazing when you think about it. Human babies are typically around 5 per cent of a mother’s body weight. Amazing!

Compared to chickens, quail produce larger eggs for their size, lay more often, and require less food for the same amount of output. And luckily for apartment dwellers or others dealing with smaller spaces, they take very well to more confined living spaces. In nature, Japanese quail are ground-dwelling birds—spending their days foraging in fallen leaves, keeping hidden (in dense vegetation) from predators, and preferring to scuttle away on foot rather than fly.

Domesticated quail are perfectly happy in a cage with straw litter they can hide in, pans of soil they can dust-bathe in, and fresh leaves they can clean bugs from. A typical small rabbit hutch can work well, and best of all, it will fit on most apartment balconies! Or keep them in an indoor rabbit cage in a spare room or corner of the living room. Find a hutch or cage with a wire bottom (quarter- or half-inch wire mesh), with the one modification being to slightly angle the bottom so the eggs gently roll to one edge for easy collection. Keep a pan underneath to collect the small, dry droppings and any spilled food (and compost it if you can—it’s great for the garden). The quail themselves are very quiet, mostly making contented chirps when given fresh straw, soil, or leaves to play in. The males do “crow,” but nothing like the raucous cry of the chicken rooster; instead it’s a sound kind of like paper ripping, and not much louder than your speaking voice.

The eggs might be small, but in a space the size of a small rabbit cage (say, 50cm by 100cm), you could get the equivalent of about two chicken eggs a day, which is plenty for most single or coupled apartment dwellers. If you have a backyard, double the space for double the birds and double the eggs. Check your favourite online classified listings for people in your area with quail for sale, and read backyard-chicken or homesteading forums to learn the (very simple) basics of quail keeping. Spring or summer is the best time to get started.

Just remember to keep your birds safe from drafts and dizzying heights, and give them lots of material to hide and play in. They will happily keep you in fresh, local, ethical eggs, even in a city apartment.