ACID orange, passionate purple and pretty pink are the colours of choice for the tiny tinted talons of these new born owlets in Kington.

While the colourful chicks may be bang on trend, there is an important reason behind the unique colour coding scheme – a way of identifying each chick to ensure their feeding is correct.

Staff came up with the nail polish idea because, when hatched, the owlets look very similar and over-feeding owls can be fatal very quickly.

The first born gets orange talons, the second hatched has a touch of purple added while the third born looks pretty in pink.

Seven owlets – three Great Horned Owlets, two Tawny owlets and two Ashy Faced Barn Owls – are being hand-reared after hatching within the last week at the Small Breeds Farm Park and Owl Centre in Kington.

But the centre, which has one of the largest collections of owls in Europe, is expecting a population explosion of owlets from now until the beginning of autumn, including some White Faced Scops, which could be next to hatch.

The hatching owls keep staff at the centre very busy as they need to be fed baby mice within about 12 hours of hatching and initially three or four times a day.

After a few days their feeds reduce to three a day and after two to four months, just two feeds and by the time they are about three months old they are fully grown and will break the food up themselves.

Animal carer with specific responsibilities for owls, Alice Pond, said the owls develop very quickly and within 10 to 12 weeks they are looking to move away from the nest.

She said: "In the wild, owls only live three to five years but in captivity they live a lot longer. We have a Tawny owl that is about 20 years old. He was rescued from the Weobley area by the centre owner, Jay, and he is still here."

Alice and Jay said the new owls, once old enough, could end up anywhere in the world as some go to other farm parks and zoos, some go to breeding centres, some go to private collectors and breeders and some are swapped to have different blood lines.

For more information on the Small Breeds Farm Park and Owl Centre call 01544 231109 or visit owlcentre.com