Thinking about raising quail.

[Willowspirit]

A friend of mine raises Coturnix Quail and sells the eggs to restaurants. There’s a high demand where she is in Ohio. She says you need a lot of hens per rooster if you are getter no a roo.

 

[Ebony Rose]

... She says you need a lot of hens per rooster if you are getter no a roo.

Yes, a lot of hens per cock for coturnix quail. At least three hens, and some say as many as eight, for each cock. Stick to the low end of hens per to get higher fertility ratios.
I've never raised bob white quail (or any other variety than coturnix, for that matter), but it's my understanding that they do best in monogamous relationships, one hen per cock... some reading suggests you can go as high as two hens per on bob whites, but my take on the subject was that one hen might get mighty lonesome in such an arrangement. That's just too much cage and not enough bird for me, plus bob whites take part of the year off (no eggs produced), an important factor to me as I eat both eggs and meat.

 

[RUNuts]

Good suggestions here. If you have a lot of predators, quail coops can be better protected and less space needed. Meat birds butchered at 8 weeks. Same time the egg layers start. Quiet in the city to keep the roosters and hatching your own stock.

I like chickens when they roam around. They scratch and help turn compost piles and can weed a garden. Unfortunately, chickens roam around and scratch where they want. They also eat cucumbers, but that was a lesson learned. Pick your cucumbers before weeding.

Meat is wonderful and stronger tasting. Tiny little bones to pick around. Eggs are soft shelled and tough membraned. Use a knife or get the scissors. I'm coming up on 6 months keeping quail. Different than chickens and I can appreciate both approaches.

Best wishes with whatever you decide.

 

[Ebony Rose]

...Eggs are soft shelled and tough membraned. Use a knife or get the scissors.

I use scissors. Lop off the pointy end then at perpendicular angle to the cut I just made, I make one slice through one side of the egg towards the fat end keeping the pointy tip as close to the inside of the shell as possible while cutting. I seldom break a yolk this way.