Comparing Quail Egg vs Chicken Egg: Benefits & Taste

Hey there, homesteader. Have you thought about raising quail on your small farm? Let’s compare the benefits and taste of the quail egg vs chicken egg.

Quail Egg vs Chicken Egg Size Difference

One of most significant differences in a quail egg vs chicken egg is that quail eggs are a much smaller size than even the smallest chicken eggs in your backyard flock. Typically, three to four quail eggs will equal the same volume of one chicken egg. According to Brinsea Incubation Specialists, the average quail egg is about 35 mm long and 27 mm in diameter, while the average chicken egg is 62mm long and 43 mm in diameter.

Closer Look

Many quail eggs have a beautiful dark brown speckled shell over a creamy tan color background. Some of the little eggs have a blue or olive green hue to them, and some have lighter speckles. The actual egg is either white or blue, and the mottled spots come as a deposit on the shell formation by the quail hen.

Much like chicken eggs, genetics determines what color eggs the hens will lay. However, chickens can lay a wider variety of colors and with deposit overlay than quail as there are far more chicken breeds than quail breeds.

Production

Quail and chickens both lay an egg per day. The most recorded eggs a chicken has ever laid in a day is seven, but we’re talking averages here. They usually lay just one egg per day, while skipping an occasional day. They also take off and do not lay eggs during their molt in winter months. There are no records of quail laying more than one egg per day.

Some breeds of chickens and quail will lay more per year. The most number of eggs a quail can lay would be the Pharaoh breed quail laying 300 eggs per year, whereas the most productive chicken hen is the Leghorn with about 320 eggs per year.

Quail beat out chickens with getting started though. Quail can grow from hatchling to fully sexual maturity in six weeks. On the contrary, production chickens need four to six months to get started.

The chicken wins at longevity. The lifespan of a chicken is an average of 5 years, and quail only get 2 years. The math works out so that the chicken will lay roughly three times more eggs than a quail will in their respective lifetimes.

Shelf Life Between Quail Egg vs Chicken Egg

The best way to store any kind of eggs is unwashed and unrefrigerated. Personally, I’ve seen the same shelf life with quail eggs and chicken eggs when kept this way, but I haven’t challenged this with an attempt at seeing how long can they go.

Others say that while chickens eggs seem to stay fresh forever, quail eggs will lose their rich texture at around three to four weeks.

Health Benefits of Quail Egg vs Chicken Egg

While they may taste the same, their make up is a little different. Quail eggs are higher is HDL cholesterol (the good one). According to WebMD,

“There is a large amount of beneficial fatty acids found in quail eggs that can help boost your heart health. In fact, 60% of the fat in quail eggs is made up of “good” fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and can help affect cholesterol levels positively.”

Both chicken and quail eggs are packed with proteins needed to repair body tissues, minerals essential to cellular health, and vitamins to boost our immune systems. Adding quail or chicken eggs to your homestead for your regular diet is an excellent whole food choice.

Nutritional Value

At first glance, you may think that quail eggs wouldn’t be worth having since you need four of them to equal a chicken egg by volume. However, let’s compare apples to apples, shall we?

The following table shows us some nutrient content of a single chicken egg, with the average size weighing 50 grams. The next column is a single quail egg only weighing about 12 grams. We really need to compare the first column with the third column to get a fair comparison of quail egg vs chicken egg.

	Chicken Egg 50 grams average	Quail Egg 12 grams average	Quail egg by same volume (x4) 48 grams
Calories	78	14	56
Protein	6g	1g	4g
Fat	5g	1g	4g
Carbohydrates	0	0	0
Fiber	0	0	0
Choline	147 mg	119 mg	476mg
riboflavin	.25 mg	.198mg	.792mg
folate	24mcg	5.94mcg	23.76mcg
pantothenic acid	.7mg	.44mg	1.76mg
vitamin A	64mcg	29.34mcg	117.36mcg
Vitamin B12	1.4mcg	.395mcg	1.58mcg
iron content	.8mg	.3mg	1.2mg
potassium	61mg	12mg	48mg
phosphorus	198mg	57.5mg	230mg
calcium	25 mg	6 mg	24mg
magnesium	5 mg	1 mg	4mg

When we compare the nutritional content of the quail egg vs chicken egg, we see the fat and protein content is comparable, but the same amount of quail egg by weight has less calories. 

Check out those choline levels too. Just one serving of 4 quail eggs will give you the total amount of choline that you need in a day. Choline is used by the body to make cell membranes. Additionally, our nervous systems need choline to regulate mood, memory, and proper muscle function.

Tasty Eggs

Chicken eggs and quail eggs pretty much taste the same when scrambled; however, quail eggs have a lot more egg yolk to egg white ratio. This makes them have a slightly richer taste when baking with them.

Our family has done several blind taste tests in the past, and our experience is that nobody can tell the difference between the quail egg vs chicken egg. The texture however, makes a denser sweet bread or cake, much like duck eggs.

Cooking

You can cook quail eggs in any of the same manners that you can cook chicken eggs, but obviously, they’ll require less cooking time. Hard boil them, fry them, or scramble them. Just remember, quail eggs are about 1/4 the size of a chicken egg so you’ll need a lot more quail eggs for your recipe.

You can mix them up in a scramble or when used for baking too. Since quail eggs have such a rich yolk to them, they bake very well, almost like tiny duck eggs.

Quail eggs are the perfect size to pickle for a bite-sized snack.

Pro Tip: Get yourself a pair of quail egg scissors for cutting the top of the shell off of the eggs. They are well worth their cost, I promise. Quail eggs are so hard that they tend to shatter in tiny fragments when you try to crack them.

Food Safety

If you’re buying quail eggs from grocery stores, they aren’t pasteurized like chicken eggs. You may want to wash your quail eggs with a little dish soap and cool water before cracking them open.

Personally, I’d prefer to just use home raised eggs.

Allergic Reactions

Do you have seasonal or environmental allergies? Eating quail eggs may help you fight the allergen. They contain large amount of the ovumucoid protein that helps you fight the inflammatory response triggered by any kind of allergen. 

My youngest son had severe allergies leading to a myriad of other health issues when he was a child. We switched to quail eggs at the request of his pediatric allergist who practiced holistic medicine. This was just a part of his healing protocol, but it worked.

Be careful if you’re allergic to eggs though. If you have a chicken egg allergy, you may be allergic to quail eggs too (but not always). Alternatively, some folks, myself for example, have no problems with chicken eggs, but quail eggs make them ill.

Allergy Symptoms / intolerance to a food could present with:

• rash or hives
• swelling of the face, tongue, throat
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• sneezing, coughing, running eyes and nose
• difficulty breathing
• anaphylaxis in severe cases

Comparing Quail Egg vs Chicken Egg, The Bottom Line

There’s a place on the homestead for both types of eggs. Use what you like. If you’re in a small space, quail might be the better option for you because quail can be kept with a smaller footprint with vertical cages. We hope this comparison of the quail egg vs chicken egg helps you decide. Either way, you can’t go wrong having fresh eggs as a protein source when you grow your own food.

You may also enjoy reading Why Aren’t My Chickens Laying Eggs?

Happy Homesteading!

Donna and her family have been homesteading for most of their 20+  years together in some shape or fashion. She currently lives on their 20 acre farm where they grow as much food as possible. What started as a just a few laying hens, has grown into large gardens, pastured poultry, pork, and lamb. They are continuously evolving their small farm to not suit their family’s needs, but also providing to their local community. Donna’s favorite part of the family farm is her self-built micro-dairy, where she gets to love on dairy cows while serving her local community. Milking, cheesemaking, and processing dairy have become the soul of their homestead and the center of their farm.