How to Sell Conures in the United States | PetzLover

What laws apply when you sell conures in the US?

• USDA licensing: Animal Welfare Act rules (9 CFR 2.1) exempt people who sell as pets up to 200 birds a year of species averaging 250 grams or less, or up to 8 heavier birds, born and raised on their premises. Ask USDA APHIS if you sell more.
• CITES: it covers trade between countries, not a sale between two US residents. Most conures are on Appendix II, and exporting any conure needs CITES documents from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Golden conure: listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since May 26, 2020. Its 4(d) rule lets you sell one across state lines without an ESA permit, but it is on CITES Appendix I, and an exporter must supply a signed, dated breeder statement confirming captive breeding.
• Imports: the Wild Bird Conservation Act has barred most imports of CITES-listed birds since 1993, so buyers will expect a US-bred bird with a closed band.
• State and local rules: rules on breeding, animal numbers and noise vary. Check with your state agriculture or wildlife agency and your city.

How do you identify and document a conure before you sell it?

1. Confirm the species against a reliable profile such as the World Parrot Trust's: an adult sun conure is yellow across the back and wing coverts, a jenday has a green back and wings, and a maroon-bellied has a green crown where a green-cheeked's is brownish.
2. For a color mutation, give the species and the mutation, for example "green-cheeked conure, pineapple"; the American Federation of Aviculture's Watchbird journal explains that the pineapple is a cinnamon opaline green-cheeked.
3. If the parents are different species, say so; never sell a cross as a pure species.
4. Wait until the chick is fully weaned and eating on its own.
5. Have it DNA sexed; VCA notes that males and females of most conures look alike.
6. Book an avian vet exam and keep the results, including any tests your vet suggests, such as PBFD, avian bornavirus or psittacosis. The Merck Veterinary Manual says PDD, caused by avian bornavirus, primarily affects macaws, conures and African greys.
7. Note the closed band and any microchip number, and write a care sheet; PetMD advises pellets as at least 60 to 70 percent of a conure's diet.

How should you price a conure for sale?

Price by species first. The Vet Desk, a pet information site, gives typical breeder prices of $200 to $3,000 or more for conures (updated January 2026), says the rarest species cost more and warns that extremely low prices are suspicious. It gives no figure per species, so compare current conures for sale of the same species near you.

• A hand-raised, weaned, DNA-sexed bird with vet records sits at the top of the range for its species.
• Price a cross, or a bird whose species you cannot confirm, below a documented one.
• A good cage adds value; The Vet Desk puts conure cages at $70 to $1,000.
• For an older pet you are placing for its own sake, a rehoming fee may fit better; Phoenix Landing, a parrot rescue, charges $300 to adopt a conure.

How do you write a conure ad that finds the right buyer?

1. Put the species, age and sex in the title, for example "Hand-raised female green-cheeked conure, 14 weeks".
2. Add daylight photos of the back, wings and tail, so buyers can confirm the species, and a short video with the bird's normal calls.
3. Describe the noise honestly: Merck says the larger Aratinga conures have a piercing scream, and even a green-cheeked calls loudly.
4. Say whether the bird nips; VCA notes that conures may nip or screech if they do not get what they want.
5. State the cage it needs: VCA gives a minimum of 2 by 2 by 3 feet.
6. List the records: band, DNA certificate, vet exam and tests.
7. Give the price, what is included and that the buyer collects in person, and keep your phone number and home address out of the ad text.

You can post your conure ad free on PetzLover, and interested buyers message you there.

How do you screen buyers for a conure?

Ask every buyer the same questions and compare the answers with what the species needs:

• Have you kept a parrot before, and which species?
• Do you rent, share walls or live under HOA rules, and have you checked noise rules? Foster Parrots, for example, will not place highly vocal parrots with renters or people who share walls.
• How many hours a day is someone home, and where will the cage stand?
• What will it eat? A good answer is pellets as the base plus vegetables, not seed only.
• Which avian vet will you use?
• Who will care for the bird if you cannot? VCA gives conures an average lifespan of 20 to 35 years.

A buyer who will not visit, wants several birds at once, asks only about breeding or wants the bird shipped out of state without meeting is a reason to stop.

How do you take payment and hand over a conure safely?

• Meet in person, at your home or an avian vet clinic, and let the buyer handle the bird.
• Take payment at the handover. Refuse overpayments, "shipping agents" and requests to refund a difference.
• Sign a bill of sale with both names, the date, the species or cross, hatch date, band, sex, price and the records handed over.
• For a golden conure, give the buyer your signed breeder statement of captive breeding, since any later export needs one.
• Send a care sheet, a few days of food and the vet records, and a reminder never to let the bird loose: the World Parrot Trust reports feral nanday, mitred, red-masked and blue-crowned conures in Florida and California, and Florida, for example, makes it illegal to release nonnative species.

If a buyer has posted a wanted ad, see how to respond to a conure wanted ad. Buyers may have read how to buy a conure, so expect questions about species and papers. If you are placing an adult pet rather than selling, you can list your conure for adoption instead.