Feather Types Explained: Coque, Turkey, Ostrich, Marabou and Peacock
Costume feathers are named after the bird they came from, not after the garment they end up on. The six you will meet most often are coque (rooster), turkey, ostrich, marabou, pheasant and peacock. Each bird gives a feather with a distinct outline, and once you can read the outline you can name the feather from a photograph — useful, because most sellers, ourselves included, label these pieces by colour and never mention the bird.
The feather types at a glance
| Type | Also called | How you tell it apart | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coque | rooster, cock feather, coque tail, schlappen; barred ones are called furnace or grizzly | Long and narrow, tapering to a thin point; glossy, with a green or bronze sheen | Feather capes, shoulder collars, ruffs and trims — the most common costume feather |
| Turkey | turkey flats, turkey rounds, turkey quill | Broad and flat with a rounded tip, matte, with a visible pale central shaft | Angel and bird wings, wide fanned capes, headdresses |
| Ostrich | plume, ostrich drab, ostrich spad | Very long, soft and drooping; loose barbs fall away in a wide curtain | Carnival headdresses, fans, boas, plumed hats |
| Marabou | marabou down, turkey marabou | A soft puff of down, no visible shaft, no defined outline — a cloud, not a feather | Boas, cuffs, soft trim edges |
| Pheasant | ringneck, lady amherst, golden pheasant | Slim, stiff, strongly barred in brown and gold; flatter than barred coque, no iridescent tip | Hat trims, brooches, fascinators |
| Peacock | peacock eye, peacock sword, peacock herl | Blue-green iridescence; the classic version has a dark round eye near the tip | Fans, tails, statement headdresses, masks |
| Goose | nagoire, biot, goose satinette | Medium, smooth, neatly shaped; the biot is a stiff curled sliver used in clusters | Millinery, fascinators, structured trims |
| Guinea fowl | guinea, pearl feather | Small, grey-black, covered in regular white dots | Small trims, accent clusters |
Coque — the long pointed one
Coque comes from the tail and saddle of a rooster. It is long, narrow, tapers to a fine point, and has a natural gloss that throws green and bronze as the light moves across it. That combination — length, thin tip, sheen — separates it from everything else here at a glance.
It is also, by a wide margin, the feather you are most likely to be buying — long enough to give a cape real reach past the shoulder, light enough not to drag, and it takes dye well. The black capelet with the gold lace collar, the teal asymmetrical cape and the orange one-shoulder shawl are all coque.
The one thing that distinguishes it from turkey: the tip. Coque narrows to a point like a brush. Turkey ends in a rounded or squared-off edge.
Coque is not always black or dyed. Roosters also grow naturally barred plumage — brown and black banding with an iridescent green-black tip — and the trade has names for it: furnace for the brown-with-dark-tip version, grizzly for the striped one. The khaki and brown feather lace shawl is built from exactly this, and the banding is the bird's own marking, not a print.
Turkey — the broad flat one
Turkey feathers are wide, flat and blunt-ended, with a pale central shaft running up the middle. They are matte where coque is glossy. Because the feather is broad, a few of them cover a lot of ground — which is why turkey is the standard choice whenever a piece needs to read as a wing rather than a fringe.
The white feather shoulder cape is the clearest example: overlapping rows, round tips outward, reading as a folded wing. That construction needs a broad feather.
Ostrich — the long drooping plume
Ostrich is the feather most people picture when they hear "plume": very long, with soft loose barbs that fall away from the shaft in a wide curtain and move constantly. It gives carnival headdresses their height and sway.
It is almost never used for shoulder capes: the softness that makes it beautiful in the air makes it collapse against a body. Tall, soft, waving plumes mean ostrich, and it will be a headdress or a fan — see our guide to carnival feather headdresses.
Marabou — the one with no shape at all
Marabou is down rather than plumage: a soft puff with no visible shaft and no defined outline, closer to a cloud than to a feather. Despite the name, most costume marabou today is turkey down, not stork. You meet it as a boa, a cuff, or a soft trim. The test: if you cannot see where one feather ends and the next begins, it is marabou.
Pheasant, peacock, goose and guinea fowl
These four are accents, identified by their markings rather than their outline. Pheasant is slim and stiff with natural brown-and-gold banding, rarely dyed because the marking is the point. Peacock is blue-green and iridescent; the one with the dark round "eye" is the tail feather, the long thin ones are swords, the fine strands are herl. Goose is the millinery workhorse — smooth and neatly shaped, and cut into the stiff curled slivers called biots. Guinea fowl is small and grey-black with regular white spots.
The parts of a feather, and what they are called
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Quill | The hollow base of the shaft — the end glued or sewn into the backing, so usually hidden. |
| Shaft (rachis) | The central spine running the length of the feather. Visible and pale on turkey; thin and dark on coque; effectively absent on marabou. |
| Barbs | The individual strands branching off the shaft. Tight barbs give a smooth, solid feather; loose barbs give the soft drooping look of ostrich. |
| Tip | The end of the feather. Pointed on coque, rounded or squared on turkey. The fastest way to tell those two apart. |
| Backing | Not the feather but the garment: the lace, mesh or fabric band the feathers are sewn onto. It decides how the piece hangs and fastens. |
| Ply / layer | How many rows of feathers are stacked. A two- or three-layer cape sets rows one behind the other for depth. |
Common confusions
Coque or turkey?
Look at the tip and the finish: coque is pointed and glossy, turkey is blunt and matte. Colour will not help — the wide rainbow cape and the two-layer multicolour cape show one rainbow treatment applied to two different birds.
Barred coque or pheasant?
Both are brown with black banding and both are usually undyed. The difference is tip and stiffness: barred coque stays soft, tapers to a fine point, and finishes in an iridescent green-black tip. Pheasant is stiffer, flatter, and has no iridescence.
Iridescent does not mean peacock
Black coque is naturally iridescent — the green-bronze flash is the rooster's own — and many dyed feathers now carry an added iridescent coating. A blue-green shimmer on a shoulder cape is almost never peacock. If there is no eye and the feathers are long, narrow and pointed, it is coque.
"Feather" in a product title does not always mean feathers
A number of pieces sold as feather shawls or collars are layered tulle cut into ruffles — they read as feathers in a thumbnail. The tell is the edge: fabric ruffles have a continuous wavy hem, real feathers a broken outline of separate tips. We excluded several such pieces from this page for that reason.
If you are choosing rather than naming
The feather type matters less to how a piece wears than the backing, the fastening and how far it sits off the shoulder. The full range is in the capes and cloaks collection, and the guides below cover choosing between them.
One note on labelling, since it is why this page exists: our own titles describe these pieces by colour, layer count and construction, and do not name the bird. That is normal for the category — it just means the feather type is something you read off the photograph.
Questions people actually ask
What is the most common feather used in costume capes?
Coque — rooster tail and saddle feathers. They are long enough to extend past the shoulder, light, naturally glossy, and they take dye well. A feather cape with long pointed feathers is almost certainly coque.
What is the difference between coque and turkey feathers?
Shape and finish. Coque is long, narrow, pointed and glossy with a green-bronze sheen. Turkey is broad and flat with a rounded tip, matte, with a visible pale shaft. The tip is the quickest test.
What are marabou feathers?
Soft down with no visible shaft and no defined outline, used for boas, cuffs and soft trims. Despite the name, most costume marabou is turkey down, not stork. If you cannot count the individual feathers, it is marabou.
Are black feather capes made from crow or raven feathers?
No. Crow and raven feathers are protected in most countries and are not used commercially. Black costume feathers are dyed coque or turkey — and undyed black coque already carries the green-bronze sheen people associate with crow plumage.
How can I tell if a feather cape uses real peacock feathers?
Look for the eye — the dark round marking near the tip. Blue-green shimmer alone is not enough: black coque is naturally iridescent and dyed feathers often carry an iridescent coating. Long, narrow, pointed and shimmering means coque.
Are costume feathers real?
Usually yes — coque and turkey are a by-product of poultry farming, which is what makes them inexpensive. Synthetics are easy to spot: every piece the same size and shape, with a flat plastic sheen.
Related guides
- Feather Neckwear: Collar, Ruff, Stole or Capelet? — this page names the feather, that one names the garment shape
- What Is Actually in a Feather Collar — how one is put together, and where the cost goes
- How to Style Feather Accessories — what a feather piece needs underneath it
- Carnival Feather Headdresses — where ostrich plumes live
- Gothic Cloaks and Capes — the wider cape category these layer over