Price Guide · What You Get · Midland, TX
Not just a number — what the money buys. The real Congo and Timneh ranges, exactly what's included, and why the cheapest bird is almost always the costliest.
See the real pricesWritten by Mark & Teri Benjamin · C.A.Gs African Grey breeders, Midland TX · USDA-licensed since 2014
What the price buys — a healthy, documented, hand-raised Grey. Tell us what you're looking for and we'll send the exact price, what's included, and the birds available now — no pressure.
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The short answer
A hand-raised African Grey from a real breeder runs $1,700–$3,500: our Congo babies are $2,300–$2,500, a tame adult Congo about $1,700, and a Timneh $1,500–$1,600. That price includes PCR DNA sexing, an avian-vet certificate and CITES Appendix I papers — anything far cheaper usually isn't a bargain, it's a missing bird, missing papers, or a sick one.
Ask the internet what an African Grey costs and you'll get everything from $500 to $13,000 — forums, marketplaces and cost-guides that never quite agree. Here's the honest version from people who actually raise them: a documented, hand-raised African Grey sits between $1,700 and $3,500 — African Greys are slow to breed and demanding to raise, as the World Parrot Trust's grey parrot profile ↗ makes clear — and where a bird lands in that band comes down to age, subspecies and how much real work went into it.
| Bird | Typical price | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Congo baby (3–6 mo) | $2,300–$2,500 | Hand-raised, weaned, socialised — our main bird |
| Congo adult | $1,700 | Tame, established personality |
| Timneh African Grey | $1,500–$1,600 | Smaller, often an earlier talker |
| Suspiciously cheap | under $1,500 | Red flag — see the cheap-bird section |
The two subspecies set the floor and the tiers set the rest. A Congo African Grey — the larger, red-tailed bird — runs $1,700 for a tame adult up to $2,500 for a hand-raised baby. A Timneh is a little smaller and a little cheaper at $1,500–$1,600. Babies cost more than adults everywhere, because a weaned, socialised chick is months of daily labour, not a markup.
A hand-raised baby is the most expensive bird to produce and the easiest to live with — and those two facts are connected. Every day from hatching, that chick is hand-fed, handled and gentled, so it arrives bonded to people and ready to train. You're not paying a premium for a younger bird; you're paying for the work that makes it tame.
We price honestly and narrowly: $2,300–$2,500 for a hand-raised Congo baby, $1,700 for a tame adult, $1,500–$1,600 for a Timneh. We'd rather quote a fair, fixed figure than dangle a low headline price and claw it back in "extras" — the papers, testing and support are all already in it.
Most of the spread you see online is the difference between a documented breeder bird and an undocumented one — and because the African Grey is, in the wild, a species the World Wildlife Fund flags as heavily trapped ↗, captive-bred documentation is exactly what keeps a legitimate bird legitimate. Age, subspecies, how socialised the bird is, the testing and paperwork behind it, and the breeder's track record all move the number — and the gap between a $1,700 papered Grey and a $700 "bargain" is exactly the gap in everything that protects you.
A hand-raised, fully tested baby from an established aviary costs more than an unweaned, untested bird from an unknown seller — and it should. The cheaper bird hasn't skipped a markup; it's skipped the DNA test, the vet check, the weeks of weaning and the lifetime support. You pay the difference later, usually at the vet.
There are corners we won't cut to advertise a lower number: the PCR DNA test, the avian-vet certificate, the full weaning, and the time each chick spends being socialised. Cut those and the price drops — but so does everything that makes the bird healthy and tame, which defeats the entire point of buying one.
This is the question competitors never answer. They'll tell you a number; almost none tell you what the number buys. Here at C.A.Gs every figure is an all-in price — the documentation, the health testing and the support are part of the bird, not upsells bolted on at checkout. Here's the line-by-line.
| What you get | Real C.A.Gs breeder | Cheap marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| PCR DNA sexing certificate | Included | Rarely |
| Avian-vet health certificate | Included | Almost never |
| CITES Appendix I papers | Included | Often missing |
| Weaned & hand-socialised | Yes | Often sold unweaned |
| 3-day written health guarantee | Yes | No |
| Lifetime breeder support | Yes | None |
Every Grey leaves us with a full paper trail: a PCR DNA-sexing certificate, an avian-vet health certificate, CITES Appendix I captive-bred documentation, a hatch certificate and closed band, and a 3-day written health guarantee. None of it is optional or extra — it's the difference between a documented companion and a bird you simply hope is healthy and legal.
The PCR DNA test tells you, for certain, whether your Grey is male or female — not a guess. The avian-vet certificate is a real exam by a member of the Association of Avian Veterinarians ↗, not a glance. And because African Greys are CITES Appendix I, the captive-bred paperwork is what makes owning and transporting one fully legal. A seller who can't produce all three is selling you risk.
African Greys are listed on CITES Appendix I (uplisted in 2017), so every bird must be captive-bred with documentation to be legally owned and shipped. The CITES convention text ↗ sets the framework, and our birds are captive-bred in the USA with the papers to prove it — never wild-caught.
The biggest line item you'll never see itemised is time. A hand-raised Grey represents months of feeding a chick by hand every few hours, weaning it onto solid food, and handling it daily so it grows up trusting people. That labour is the whole reason our birds arrive tame and trainable — and it's the single hardest thing for a cheap seller to fake.
From hatching to going home, a baby Grey is handled, talked to and gentled every single day. By the time it ships it already reads a hand as safe and a person as family — the foundation that makes training work and the reason a well-raised bird is worth more than a bargain one.
People are sometimes startled that a bird costs as much as it does until they watch what a clutch actually takes — the 2am feeds, the weeks of weaning, the daily socialising. The price isn't a markup on a wild animal; it's the honest cost of raising a healthy, human-bonded companion the right way.
Nothing on this page matters more than this section, so we'll be blunt and we won't joke about it: the cheapest African Grey listing is almost never the cheapest bird. A suspiciously low price is the single most reliable sign of a sick, undocumented, unweaned — or entirely imaginary — bird, and the savings vanish the moment reality arrives.
| Low-price red flag | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Priced under $1,500 | No papers, unweaned, or a scam |
| No CITES / DNA / vet certificate | Illegal, untested, or wild-caught risk |
| Won't do a live video call | The bird may not exist |
| Wants wire, gift card or crypto | Irreversible — classic advance-fee scam |
| No verifiable address or licence | Nobody to hold accountable |
A legitimate, documented, hand-raised African Grey simply costs more than $1,500 to produce, so a price below that floor is doing something other than being generous. Usually it means the paperwork doesn't exist, the bird was never properly weaned or vetted, or the listing is bait for an advance-fee scam where you pay "shipping" for a bird that never ships. The Better Business Bureau's scam tracker ↗ logs these advance-fee pet cons by the thousand.
The three cheap-bird outcomes all end at the same place. A sick bird means avian-vet bills that dwarf the saving. An unweaned chick can die in an inexperienced home. An undocumented Grey can't be legally proven captive-bred. You didn't save money — you bought a problem with a discount sticker on it.
A cheaper African Grey is the same bird for less money — a smart buy if I can find one.
It's almost never the same bird. The price difference is the testing, papers, weaning and support that were skipped. A cheap Grey is a different, riskier purchase wearing a lower number — and the gap reappears, with interest, at the vet or in a scam you can't reverse.
Before you send a deposit to anyone, run this five-step check. It takes about five minutes and it's the cheapest insurance in birds. If a seller fails any single step, that's your answer — and the more they resist, the clearer the answer gets.
Those five are deliberately simple. As the FTC's guidance on avoiding pet scams ↗ documents, the cons rely on you skipping the boring checks in the excitement of a "deal." A real breeder will happily clear every one — we'd rather you ran this check on us than lost money to someone who couldn't. For more, our full guide to avoiding African Grey scams walks through the cons in detail.
We tell buyers to phone the avian vet on the health certificate and to verify the USDA licence — even when the bird is ours. A legitimate breeder has nothing to hide and everything to gain from you checking; the only person who fears a five-minute verification is the one running a scam.
The sticker price is the start, not the whole bill. A Grey needs a proper cage, a vet, good food and a steady stream of toys it will destroy with great enthusiasm. None of it is extravagant, but it's real — and the buyers who thrive are the ones who budgeted for it before the bird arrived, not after. For the full breakdown see our complete African Grey cost-of-ownership guide; here's the short version.
| First-year item | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Large cage | $300–$800 |
| Perches & toys | $100–$300 |
| First avian-vet visit | $75–$200 |
| Pelleted food (year) | $200–$400 |
| Enrichment (year) | $150–$300 |
| Shipping (airport/home) | $185–$350 |
The big first-year items are a large, safe cage and its perches, a first avian-vet wellness visit, and a few months of good pelleted food and fresh produce. Buy the cage right the first time — a cramped or unsafe one costs more in stress, vet bills and replacement than simply buying well at the start.
Add it up and a sensible first year beyond the bird runs about $1,100 on the lean end to $2,400 if you go premium on the cage and setup. Shipping belongs in that first-year figure too: our Greys travel on IATA Live Animals Regulations-compliant ↗ flights — $185 to your nearest airport, $350 home. That's the honest number competitors' "just the price" headlines leave out — and knowing it up front is exactly what separates a happy owner from an overwhelmed one.
Once you're set up, the running costs settle down: pelleted food and fresh produce ($200–$400), an annual avian-vet wellness check ($75–$200), and a steady replacement of toys a Grey will happily shred ($100–$250). Call it $400–$1,100 a year for a healthy bird in a normal year.
The line everyone forgets is the one that bites: the unexpected vet bill. African Greys hide illness, and an emergency avian visit can run into the hundreds fast. Keep a small buffer ($0–$500 a year, realistically) so a sick bird is a phone call, not a financial crisis — it's the kindest insurance you can give a 40–60 year companion.
We say it to every buyer: an African Grey can outlive the decade you're planning around — they live 40 to 60 years. The purchase price is a rounding error against a lifetime of food, vet care and time. Buy the bird because you want the relationship for the long haul, not because the number on day one felt affordable.
Honestly? For the right home, an African Grey is worth every dollar — and for the wrong one, no price is low enough. Worth isn't really about the figure; it's about whether you want a brilliant, demanding, decades-long companion that talks back. If you do, the question stops being "is it expensive?" and becomes "which Grey, and what should I budget?"
On pure value the Timneh wins on price and tends to settle and start talking a little sooner; the Congo costs a touch more for its size and famously clear speech. But the gap is modest and the documentation is identical, so the better value is simply the bird whose temperament fits your home — not the cheaper line on a spec sheet.
Budget $2,300–$2,500 for a Congo baby, plus roughly $1,000 of first-year setup. You're paying for months of hand-feeding and daily socialising — the work that turns a chick into a confident, tame talker.
A tame adult Congo runs about $1,700. You skip the baby premium and get an established personality — just insist on the same PCR DNA, CITES and avian-vet paperwork a baby comes with.
A Timneh ($1,500–$1,600) is the value pick — a little smaller, often an earlier talker, every bit a true African Grey, and fully documented.
Stop. A price that low almost always means no papers, an unweaned or sick bird, or an outright scam. Run the 5-minute seller check before you send a cent.
You get a price with nothing hidden behind it. Here at C.A.Gs every Grey is hand-raised in Midland, Texas and sold at one fair, fixed figure that already includes PCR DNA sexing, an avian-vet certificate and CITES Appendix I paperwork — captive-bred in the USA, weaned, socialised, and backed by lifetime support and a written health guarantee.
Each bird below is priced exactly as described — no "extras," no surprises. PCR DNA-sexed, vet-checked, CITES-documented and ready to reserve with a $200 deposit:
New Arrival Midland, TX
Female · 3 mo · Congo African Grey
"Hand-raised, fully documented, ready to reserve."
Premium hand-raised female, 3 months old. PCR DNA-sexed, vet-checked, CITES-documented — the full $2,500 inclusion list.
Ships nationwide · $185 airport · $350 home
Baby Boy Midland, TX
Male · 4 mo · Congo African Grey
"Curious, food-motivated baby boy."
Hand-raised male, 4 months old. Same documentation and health-testing as every C.A.Gs Grey, weaned and socialised.
Ships nationwide · $185 airport · $350 home
Best Value Midland, TX
Female · 1 yr · Congo African Grey
"Gentle, established — our value Congo."
Soft temperament, 1-year-old female at the $1,700 honest floor — tame, documented and ready.
Ships nationwide · $185 airport · $350 home
Bonded Duo Midland, TX
Pair · 4–6 mo · Congo African Grey
"Two hand-raised birds, adopted together."
Unrelated companion pair sold together. Jins (male, 6mo) + Jeni (female, 4mo), both fully documented.
Ships nationwide · $185 airport · $350 home
Want the full price, in writing?
Ships nationwide · $185 airport · $350 home
IATA-compliant transport · Delta / United / American · IATA LAR
See all available African Greys Ask a breeder— Written by Mark & Teri Benjamin, the breeders behind C.A.Gs · USDA-licensed African Grey aviary, Midland, TX
Because the price reflects months of hand-feeding, daily socialising, PCR DNA sexing, an avian-vet health check and CITES Appendix I documentation — not just a bird. African Greys are slow to breed and labour-intensive to raise well, and the figure you pay a real breeder buys a healthy, tame, fully papered companion rather than a gamble. The cheap ones look like a bargain right up until the vet bill or the missing paperwork arrives.
A hand-raised Congo African Grey baby (3–6 months) from us runs $2,300–$2,500. That's the upper end of our range on purpose: a weaned, socialised baby is the most labour to produce and the easiest bird to bond with and train. A tame adult Congo sits lower at about $1,700, and a Timneh runs $1,500–$1,600.
Very often, yes. A Grey priced well under $1,500 usually means one of three things: no real paperwork (no CITES, no DNA, no vet certificate), an unweaned or unwell bird, or a pure advance-fee scam where the bird doesn't exist at all. A legitimate, documented, hand-raised African Grey simply costs more to produce than that, so an unusually low price is a warning, not a win.
Every Grey ships with a PCR DNA-sexing certificate, an avian-vet health certificate, CITES Appendix I captive-bred documentation, a hatch certificate and closed band, a 3-day written health guarantee, and lifetime breeder support — all in the price, never an add-on. The bird is weaned, hand-socialised and captive-bred in the USA.
Both are true African Greys and both talk beautifully. A Timneh ($1,500–$1,600) is the value pick — a little smaller, often an earlier talker, and calmer settling into a new home. A Congo ($1,700–$2,500) is larger with the classic red tail and tends toward clearer pronunciation. Choose on temperament and household fit; the price gap is modest and either is documented identically.
For the right owner, yes — but go in clear-eyed. You're buying a 40–60 year relationship with one of the most intelligent companion animals on earth, not a low-maintenance pet. Factor the lifetime cost honestly, and an African Grey is worth every dollar; underestimate the commitment and no price is low enough.
Plan on roughly $400–$1,100 a year after the first: pelleted food and fresh produce ($200–$400), an avian-vet wellness check ($75–$200), toy and enrichment replacement ($100–$250), and a buffer for the unexpected vet bill ($0–$500). The first year runs higher once you add the cage and setup.
Yes. A $200 deposit reserves a specific bird, and the balance is settled before it travels. We confirm the payment method during reservation, send updates while the bird finishes weaning, and ship nationwide — $185 to your nearest airport or $350 home delivery, on IATA-compliant Delta, United or American flights.
