Raising a small flock of quail costs roughly $300 to $600 to get started, with ongoing expenses running about $20 per month for a dozen birds. That makes quail one of the most affordable poultry options for backyard producers, though actual costs vary based on your setup, flock size, and whether you’re raising for eggs, meat, or both.
Startup Equipment Costs
Your biggest upfront expense is housing. A basic single-tier quail hutch kit runs around $135 to $165. If you plan to scale up, stacking systems cost more: a three-tier kit starts around $375, and a five-tier setup runs about $600. Quail need roughly 1 square foot per bird, so a standard hutch can hold a small flock comfortably.
You’ll also need a brooder if you’re raising chicks from hatch. A small brooder kit costs about $85, while medium-sized versions run $125 to $135. Add a heat lamp or heat plate (typically $20 to $40), a chick waterer ($9 and up), and an automatic feeder kit (starting around $15). All told, a modest first-time setup for 12 to 25 quail looks something like this:
- Housing: $135 to $375 depending on tiers
- Brooder: $85 to $135
- Feeders and waterers: $25 to $50
- Heat source: $20 to $40
Budget builders can cut costs significantly by repurposing wire shelving, plastic totes, or scrap lumber. Many hobbyists build functional brooders for under $30 with materials they already have.
Cost of the Birds Themselves
Coturnix quail, the most popular breed for eggs and meat, can be acquired as hatching eggs or live chicks. Hatching eggs from a major hatchery like McMurray run about $3.20 per egg when you buy 30 ($96 shipped), dropping to around $2.80 per egg in quantities of 120. Not every egg will hatch, so expect a 50% to 80% hatch rate depending on shipping conditions and your incubator setup.
Live chicks average about $4.25 each. That’s actually higher than chicken chicks, which typically sell for around $3 apiece. But quail mature in just 6 to 8 weeks compared to 18 to 24 weeks for chickens, so you recoup that premium quickly through earlier production. If you’re buying locally from a breeder or at a swap meet, adult laying quail often sell for $5 to $8 each.
Going the hatching egg route requires an incubator. A basic tabletop model with automatic turning costs $50 to $100, which pays for itself if you plan to hatch multiple batches.
Feed: The Biggest Ongoing Expense
Quail eat a high-protein game bird feed, especially during the first six weeks. A 50-pound bag of Purina Game Bird Startena (30% protein) costs about $29. After six weeks, you can transition to a less expensive game bird layer feed, typically $20 to $25 for a 50-pound bag.
A single quail consumes roughly 620 grams of feed (about 1.4 pounds) during its first six weeks of life. That means a 50-pound bag of starter feed will carry about 35 birds from hatch to maturity. An adult laying quail eats approximately 20 cents’ worth of feed per week, according to a comparison study published in Poultry Science. For a flock of 12 adult quail, that works out to roughly $2.40 per week, or about $10 per month on feed alone.
Compare that to chickens: feeding an adult laying hen costs about 44% more per week than feeding an adult quail. The trade-off is that quail convert feed to eggs less efficiently by weight. It takes about 2.62 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of quail eggs, while chickens need only 2.0 kilograms of feed per kilogram of eggs. But because quail eggs sell at a premium (often $6 to $10 per dozen at farmers markets), the math can still work in your favor.
What a Dozen Quail Eggs Actually Costs to Produce
Experienced quail keepers report that the feed cost to fill a 12-count carton of quail eggs is roughly $1.50, compared to about $3.50 for a dozen chicken eggs. That’s the feed-only cost, not accounting for bedding, housing depreciation, or your time. A healthy Coturnix hen lays nearly an egg a day during peak production, so a flock of 12 hens can produce about 10 eggs daily. Over a month, that’s roughly 25 dozen quail eggs for about $10 in feed.
If you sell at a local market for $7 per dozen, that’s $175 in gross revenue against $10 in feed costs. Of course, you need to subtract all other expenses and factor in seasonal dips in laying, but it illustrates why many small producers find quail eggs profitable on a hobby scale.
Health Supplies and Maintenance
Quail are hardier than many poultry species and rarely need veterinary care if kept in clean, dry conditions. Your main health expenses are preventive: a pack of poultry electrolyte supplement runs about $4.50 and lasts months. Bedding (pine shavings or sand) costs $5 to $10 per month depending on flock size and how often you clean. Diatomaceous earth or poultry dust for parasite prevention costs $10 to $15 per bag and lasts a long time.
Annual housing costs work out to roughly $1.00 per quail, according to the Poultry Science comparison. Chickens, by contrast, cost about $1.70 per bird per year in housing because they need twice the floor space. Quail don’t need roosting bars, nesting boxes, or outdoor runs, which further reduces maintenance costs and the risk of predator losses.
Processing Equipment for Meat Birds
If you’re raising quail for meat, Coturnix reach butcher weight at 6 to 8 weeks. Most small-flock owners process by hand using kitchen shears, which costs nothing extra. For larger operations, a quail processing kit that includes an electric feather plucker and a rotating kill-cone stand runs about $740. That’s a significant investment that only makes sense if you’re processing dozens of birds regularly.
A middle-ground option is a standalone tabletop plucker for $150 to $300, which saves time without the full commercial setup. Many hobbyists skip plucking entirely and simply skin the birds, which takes about 2 minutes per quail with no special equipment.
Permits and Legal Costs
Most U.S. cities and counties treat quail differently from chickens in their ordinances. Some municipalities require no permit at all for quail because they’re classified as game birds rather than poultry. Others require a small wildlife hobby permit. In Missouri, for example, that permit costs $11. Some states require no permit for Coturnix quail specifically, since they’re a domesticated species, while native bobwhite quail may need one.
Check your local zoning and state wildlife regulations before buying birds. Where permits are required, they rarely exceed $25 annually. The bigger legal concern is whether your city allows poultry at all; in many cases, quail fly under the radar (literally, since they’re quiet) even in areas that restrict backyard chickens.
First-Year Cost Breakdown for 12 Quail
Here’s a realistic budget for someone starting a small egg-producing flock of 12 Coturnix quail:
- Housing: $135 to $165
- Brooder and heat source: $85 to $135
- Feeders and waterers: $25 to $50
- Birds (chicks or hatching eggs plus incubator): $50 to $100
- Feed (first year): $120 to $150
- Bedding and health supplies: $60 to $80
- Permit (if required): $0 to $25
Total first-year cost: roughly $475 to $705. In subsequent years, with no equipment to buy, annual costs drop to $180 to $250 for feed, bedding, and supplies. That’s about $15 to $20 per month to maintain a flock that produces 250 to 300 eggs monthly during peak laying season.