Hi, the financial cost will put you in the hole. I can't think of a single type of bird that youd actually MAKE money breeding.
But it's the emotional cost that's worse. I breed Gouldian finches (I have other birds, but don't breed them). There's a demand for them here in FL -- and when that begins to disapate, I won't breed them any more. They might be "just finches," but every life counts. So hubby and I end up handfeeding babies occasionally, and they have to be fed every 2 hours around the clock for 8 days. Then you can stretch out to 3 or 4 hours. By then I am aching for a night's sleep...and 4 hours for me is not a whole night!
They also have to be kept warm, above 90 degrees F, so they live in an incubator or we have to pack 'em up to go with us and figure out how to keep them warm while we're out.
You can imagine how close we feel to them after all that, so when one dies, we are devastated. Usually the ones we have cared for have been tossed out by the parents, who know more than we do about what's wrong with the baby. In other words, we begin with one that wasn't supposed to make it to begin with, and try to help it live. We have applied electrolytes, medications, veterinary care, etc. and if it dies, you have to get a necropsy done to be sure the others won't catch what it had. We've made plenty of mistakes but at this point we've got it pretty much right and then the baby goes and dies anyway.
A couple weeks ago, a young friend brought me a zebra finch to feed. It was about 4 days old at most. The other 3 in the nest had died and the parents seemed to be abandoning the nest. The baby had probably been cold for about 24 hours... the parents clearly had parasites and possibly illness. Still, baby Chirp was so determined to make it.
I set up the brooder, warmed him and fed him. On day 2 he became dehydrated, but was still flapping those tiny wings and demanding food! I added water and NV powder, and a couple feedings tried clearing his crop with watered-down Megamix. I could see some hard seeds in there, by the way. His skin pinked back up, so I thought we'd gotten through the dehydration.
The next day, he vomited the stuff I had seen in his crop and it was hard, unshelled seeds.... the parents would have hulled them so I think maybe someone tried to feed him seeds! Also around then he wasn't pooping, and when he finally did pass another of those hard seeds he then began pooping again.
On day 4 he began to weaken. I begged him to stay with me. By now I was attached to him, his little chirpy voice, his demanding way of yelling for food. I could see his feathers beginning to come in on his wings and tail area. It was not to be. He finally stopped begging and died a couple hours later.
Breeding is dealing with that, and more, over and over. It is losing your baby or maybe your hen -- and one time the hen died from egg binding and the male became sad and passed a few hours later! It is hard and sometimes thankless. Are you ok with that?