Quail egg

Maybe the Chinese want quail
It did not take long for the quail bubble to burst. Today, the market is saturated and price of an egg is just 20 shillings, a drop of more than 200%, while a day-old chick is now 200 shillings, down from 350 two months ago.

The Wild Birds Farming Association of Kenya is now recruiting farmers to help them bypass middlemen and market their quail eggs and meat directly to consumers.

Meanwhile, many Kenyans have been led to believe – by the marketing hype – that there is a huge market for export of the quail egg, especially in China and the Far East, never mind that China is the world’s largest producer of quail meat.

Just this week, a Kenyan woman was arrested by U.S Customs authorities at an airport in Arizona with a box of 103 quail eggs. The woman who had traveled from Nairobi via London told the authorities that she intended to use the eggs to heal a heart condition.

Closer to home, a woman appeared in court in Nyeri, Central Kenya, charged with stealing quail chicks worth 26,000 shillings

In fairness, the quail fiasco has more to do with the naiveté of investors and an attempt to make quick money, than a deliberate con like the pyramid scheme of eight years ago.