Left & right wings

[Fishnkilts]

When you buy a pack or pair of wings, for example speckled hen wings for tying a Hardy's Favorite, how do you know if you're getting a left & right wing? Or do they pair them up when packaging the feathers?

[letumgo]

All of the wing sets I’ve purchased came are a set of left/right wings. I’m not sure if they are all matched sets (each set from individual birds). Not sure how vendors keeps track of these things.

[redietz]

All of the wing sets I’ve purchased came are a set of left/right wings. I’m not sure if they are all matched sets (each set from individual birds).

Not only aren't they necessarily off the same bird, but I've been stuck with two wings off the same side on a couple of occasions.

[RickA]

What Bob said..
I too got stuck with a set of left wings.
The last set of mallard wings I ordered were a left and right set but
they were NOT a matched pair. The size difference made them useless
and almost impossible to match slips with the same texture.
There's no way I would spend $$$ on something like red grouse if I was
not sure they came from the same bird.

If you can, buy your feathers in a shop where you can open the package and inspect
before laying down cash.

[narcodog]

I found a seller and order my wings, specifying that the wings come from the same bird and that they be separated from each set. I offered them a reasonable price and that's how they came.

[redietz]

There's no way I would spend $$$ on something like red grouse if I was
not sure they came from the same bird.

Mostly, the valuable feathers on a red grouse wing are the coverts, not the primaries, so a matched pair doesn't matter as much. Also, even when I use the primaries, unlike with mallard, I tend to make folded wings, so again, it matters a bit less.

Of course, since it matters less, all the red grouse that I've ever bought seem to be a matched set off the same bird.