Its my 4th year.... I started off with 300 birds, lost 100 birds in first few months....remaining 200 grew to 5000....Theres one king in the pen, he'll pick and kill males/females...

1. For breeding, 1 male 4-5 females in a sperate cage. This produces 200+ eggs per hen a year.
2. After 5th week, depending on cage size, put too many in the cage so they don't have space to move much. This will help reduce the murdering/picking part.
3. After 8 weeks, if you intend to hunt, put them in big enough cage where rest can feed or hide seperately otherwise you'll keep on losing the birds. The feed required up to
6 weeks of age is about 500 g per chick, and thereafter it is about 30 g per bird per day
4. They are extremely carnivorous, if the feed & water is not ample, they will kill and feed on each other. Put 2 or 3 feeders and water container.
5. In your case, From five to 14 weeks of age, birds are grown in the dark to prevent cannibalism. Light stimulates bird activity; thus, less cannibalism occurs with birds
grown in dark-out housing.
6. Coturnix or any other breed needs high protein diet. If feed is not right, they will kill.

If you're interested in inscreasing the setup, I've written a step by step plan for Coturnix, Pheasants, Bob Quail & Partridge, from hatcery, eggs, brooding, feeding, flight pens, disease control, DOs & Don'ts, etc . Let me know if you're interested, I'll share it with you for free, it might help you.

This is a feed chart, adjust your feed for max results.
Attachment 52339