Japanese quail are produced globally for eggs and meat, often in highly intensive battery-style cages with minimal welfare provisions.
Quail are sentient birds with complex social and behavioural needs that battery-cage production cannot satisfy. Dust bathing, foraging and nesting are natural behaviours denied in intensive systems. Litter-floor systems for quail show improved welfare outcomes and are commercially viable. The premium image of quail eggs is often at odds with the conditions in which they are produced.