Owl's talons get colourful manicure
This adorable baby owl has been given a 'manicure' at a breeding farm after having its tiny talons painted with coloured nail varnish – so staff can tell it apart from its siblings.
Owner Jay Brittain, 63, came up with the unique idea to distinguish the fluffy owlets from one another as they look so similar at birth and overfeeding them can be fatal.
Workers at Small Breeds Farm Park and Owl Centre have been painting the nails of each young fledgling using women's nail polish since the start of April.
The first born Tawny owl gets orange talons, the second hatched has theirs painted purple while the third born looks pretty in pink.
So far, a total of seven cute owlets born to two different mother's have been given the colourful makeovers at the centre in Kington, south of Ludlow.
Mr Brittain said: "It is just normal ladies' nail varnish. It is as simple as that.
"It is important to keep accurate records and it is important to not to overfeed any one of the single owls.
"So to make sure we can see the ages we do this. They all look very similar.
"We paint the nails then we know which ones have been fed and which ones have not.
"It also means that we know exactly which is first born and second born, or hatched rather, and so on.
"So each one family member in one clutch is painted a different colour depending on when they were born.
"We have for instance three Tawny owls from one clutch, or family, so we have painted their nails three different colours according to when they were hatched."
Mr Brittain, who has been breeding owls for 22 years, said the risks of overfeeding can be fatal.p
He added: "Owlets need to eat more food the older they get but if you do overfeed them it can be very dangerous.
"They could die. The food just sits in the stomach.
"It is a bit like us having a really heavy lunch or dinner. They just lie there and they are not in any way active.
"It should be a lesson for us all really. Something to remember next time we have a Sunday lunch."
Staff at the farm park have to feed baby mice to the little owlets within 12 hours of hatching and initially three or four times every day.
But after three days their feeds reduce to three times a day and, by two months, they need to eat twice a day.
They are fully grown at three-months-old and are able to break up the food themselves.
Animal carer Alice Pond 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 of the county by Jay and he is still here."
The new owls will go to other farm parks, zoos, breeding centres or private collectors when they are old enough.
