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The colloquial phrase to spit feathers has two distinct meanings:
– the earlier meaning is: to have a parched mouth, to be extremely thirsty;
– the later meaning is: to be or become extremely angry or vexed.

I believe that I have identified the origin of the phrase to spit feathers used in the sense ‘to be parched’—cf. ‘to spit feathers’ (to be parched): origin and early occurrences.

But I have found no clue as to the origin of the phrase to spit feathers used in the sense ‘to be angry’.

Either the sense ‘to be angry’ of the phrase to spit feathers was somehow derived from its sense ‘to be parched’, or those are two distinct phrases, of different origins, which happen to be identical in form. (Several theories have been put forward, but no evidence supports any of them.)

These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences that I have found of the phrase to spit feathers used in the sense ‘to be angry’:

1-: From the column Daily Sportlight, by Claude Corbett, published in The Sun (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) of Thursday 19^th September 1940 [page 39, column 1]—however, here, because of insufficient context, the meaning of the phrase to spit feathers is unclear:

Frank Curran played football at Ballina on Saturday for the first time since leaving Sydney two years ago […].
Frank, wearing his Australian jersey, captained Past Players in a match for patriotic funds, and his side was beaten 8-5 after extra time had been played.
I’ll wager that added little bit had big “George,” as his intimates call him, “spitting feathers.”

2-: From the column Behind The Wheel, by Roy Cogdell, published in The Kentish Independent & Kentish Mail (London, England) of Friday 11^th January 1963 [page 13, column 3]:

Motorists are a strange breed. They lost something from their car and then, spitting feathers, turn round on the police and accuse them of not doing their job.

3-: From the Evening Chronicle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England) of Wednesday 27^th March 1963 [page 4, column 4]—“the Minister” was the Conservative politician Edward Boyle (1923-1981), Minister of Education from 1962 to 1964:

Mrs. Dorothy Percy, one of Newcastle’s National Union of Teachers leaders, […] says […]: “If we cannot get the invitation withdrawn for the Minister to speak at our N.U.T. Easter conference, our union subs. will be helping to pay for his gins and his lunch or dinner, whichever time of day he comes. It makes me spit feathers!”

4-: From the sports column by Wally Provost (1922-1996), published in the Evening World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska, USA) of Wednesday 12^th August 1964 [page 43, column 1]—here, the phrase to spit feathers is part of an extended metaphor:

Omaha’s Dick Paulson insists he does not have baseball in his blood. He says he has Cardinals in his veins instead of blood.
That may explain why he spits feathers when St. Louis’s Redbirds don’t fly right.

5-: From a letter to the Editor, published in the Manchester Evening News and Chronicle (Manchester, Lancashire, England) of Monday 17^th October 1966 [page 4, column 6]—the reference is to the Labour statesman Harold Wilson (1916-1995), the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom:

The concern I work for is solvent. I was awarded a 9s 2d rise per week. Mr Wilson says the country can’t afford it.
The Post Office is apparently sinking fast, so they take on an extra man to find why (salary £12,500 per annum).
It makes me spit feathers!

6-: From the column All Outdoors, by Louis Gale, Outdoor Editor, published in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) of Thursday 27^th October 1966 [page 97, column 1]—here, the phrase to spit feathers is part of an extended metaphor:

Why fight it. If the rabbits and pheasants are gone in Ohio, you’ll have to switch.
We have some tough gamebirds able to give you all the hunting sport you can take.
One little character will have you spitting feathers of exasperation before you take your daily bag of three. That’s the swift, shifty ruffed grouse.

7-: From a letter to the Editor, published in the Manchester Evening News and Chronicle (Manchester, Lancashire, England) of Friday 4^th June 1971 [page 8, column 3]:

I found out that the Post Office, in their infinite wisdom, had decided to suspend their delivery service on Monday because it was a Bank Holiday.
This made me spit feathers, because, in my opinion, in view of the extortionate prices they charge for their services, there should be extra deliveries and not a suspension of same.