Feather issues in showing

[Gallusfarm]

Hello,

I was reading about showing on the Pathfinders Farm website (which has been really informative). For the cage card abbreviations, I came across these two that I can't really understand without pictures. I would like to know if anyone has photos or any info to provide concerning these feather issues:


TF: twisted feather, means your bird’s feather or feathers twists at the root, a defect


SP Wing/ SPL W/ SW: this means the bird has an improper space between the two portions of its wing, the
primary and secondary feathers


Thank you!!!

 

[cochinman2005]

Twisted Feathers: We can use the wing as the basis of an example. Assume you have a bird that has a good wing, that is when you open it up all the primaries, the axial feather and the secondaries fan out nicely one over top of the other. I twisted feather is simply one of those feathers, let's say a primary that is twisted either partially or totally around so that the bottom of the feather faces up when you hold open the wing. You normally see twisted feathers in the wings and in the tails since that's the main body part that has stiff feathers.

Split wing: Gap between the primaries and secondaries caused by missing axial feather. A bird can have a weak wing and still have a split except the axial feather will usually be hidden behind the secondaries. You want a nice full wing when you open it up with no gaps. If the bird is mid-molt, you could also have a split wing as well, and normally you wouldn't show a bird in mid molt anyway.

Hope this helps.

 

[silkieluver_07]

Hattrick Silkies has a very good article and pictures showing splitwing:

http://www.hattricksilkies.net/articles_split_wing.html