Japanese quail are the world's fourth most farmed poultry species, yet welfare standards for their care are far less developed than those for chickens or turkeys.
The welfare status of farmed quail is one of the largest neglected issues in poultry science. Their small size leads to an assumption that their suffering is proportionally minor, but quail show clear evidence of stress responses, fear behaviour, and frustration when prevented from expressing natural behaviours. High-density caging causes chronic physiological stress and injury from feather pecking. Because quail are excluded from most animal welfare legislation — and because the industry is largely invisible to consumers — meaningful reform has been slow. Scientific evidence supports providing enriched environments with cover, perches, and substrate for dust-bathing as practical minimum standards.