Quail Campaign

As outlined in our last edition of Chicken & Egg we have been quietly working towards a better future for laying quail. They are hens, after all, and upon discovering the welfare some of them endure, we know they deserve better.

To give you a broad outline, keel bone damage is extremely common in quail with 30-95% of free-range layers suffering this painful condition and 15-55% caged enduring the same. The main cause is collision through flapping and flying together with weak bones caused by heavy egg production and loss of calcium; the selection of birds for early sexual maturity also impacts their bone density. This is just one factor that severely affects welfare.

The BHWT wants to make a difference, and so we are in talks with a global research company hoping to undertake a study which will better inform our knowledge about quail welfare and what they need to be happy, healthy and productive within a commercial environment.

Our approach is to support and improve the quail industry where necessary, and to achieve better welfare for the animals who produce our food. Our work will be focussing globally, not just in the UK.

As you would expect, conducting research of this kind is costly, and our summer appeal will be asking our generous supporters to help fund some of this research.

We so very much want to improve the lives of these unseen, and seemingly forgotten, little birds, but we can only do that with your help.

Please keep your eyes out for more information in the coming months – quail need our help, and so we need yours.