Also called Japanese, Pharaoh, Texas A & M, Jumbo Wisconsin, Tuxedo
The Coturnix — Japanese quail — is the domestic quail nearly every backyard keeper starts with, and the only one on this list bred for the table rather than the field. Hens begin laying at six to eight weeks and keep up roughly 200–300 speckled eggs a year, which is why a small hutch can out-produce a chicken coop per square foot. They are calm in a cage, need no permit in most states (unlike native game species), and reach butcher weight in about eight weeks. Jumbo lines run considerably heavier than the standard bird, and colour varieties — Pharaoh, English White, Italian, Tuxedo — are all the same species.
Beginner friendly
Quiet breed
Good with kids
Heat tolerant
Egg colorBrown Speckled
Egg production200–300 / year
TemperamentDocile
BroodinessRare
ClimateHeat tolerant
PurposeEggs And Meat
Weight
Weight5-10 oz
How to spot it
Plumage
Brown speckled and streaked in the wild-type (Pharaoh); also white, golden, tuxedo and lavender lines
Sex differences
Wild-type males have a plain rust-red breast, hens a pale breast with dark spotting; males also give a crowing call
Call
Males crow — a short, buzzy three-note trill
Look for
A plump, round, almost tailless body and a bird that squats rather than perches — no topknot or head plume of any kind
