Three baby Eastern Grass Owl chicks hatch at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

IT'S been a real 'hoot' at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with the hatching of three Eastern Grass Owl chicks - a rare success in captivity.

One of the Eastern Grass Owl chicks at 50 days old. Pic: supplied

IT'S been a real 'hoot' at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with the hatching of three Eastern Grass Owl chicks - a rare success in captivity.

The first chick hatched on September 22 with another two chicks hatching every second day after that.

Keeper Brett Hancox said there were four eggs in the "clutch" produced by the parents and the hatchlings were healthy and feeding three times a day.

The Eastern Grass Owl chicks, with their parents, at two weeks old. Pic: supplied

"Everything is going really well, we're keeping it fairly hands off, we don't want to stress them out too much by being too involved, hopefully they'll do everything fine on their own and we'll only intervene if there's obvious reason to do so," he said.

"In the wild, parents would have a clutch of three to eight eggs depending on food availability and there is no guarantee that they all would survive.

"Our clutch contained four eggs but we are very happy with three hatchlings, it's more than we would have expected for a first clutch."

The parents were taken to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary as part of the Queensland Species Management Program after facing difficulties in the wild.

Grass owls nest on the ground and are more vulnerable to loss of habitat and introduced predators like foxes, feral cats and fire ants.

These owls can be found on the Gold Coast but it is believed that Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary has the only pair of Grass Owls that will breed in captivity in Australian zoos.

One of the Eastern Grass Owl chicks at 50 days old. Pic: supplied