Hi all, I have a new pearl cockatiel to go along with Buster, also a mature pearl hen. My new bird, Devon, has much longer and fuller feathers than Buster. Is there a "long feather" mutation among cockatiels? I've never noticed young birds having longer and wider feathers than adults. Since I've been out of the "scene" for a long time, I am beginning to think this is something new. Yes, no?

I've never heard of such a thing, although nobody could be much further out of the mutation loop than I am. But I have noticed a lot of variation among my own birds in feather texture, crest length, etc. Maybe it's just an individual difference.

It does appear that there can be some feather structure mutations.

Cockatiels do not have a feather structure altering mutation per se, but there are modifiers to feather structure. Some cockatiels are very sleek and tend to have uniform feather color. Others look soft and have thick down with a lighter colored fringe on each feather. The latter will often have brittle feathers that break more easily than their sleek cousins. This phenomenon is well documented in the canary fancy, where they refer to hard and soft feathered birds.
CockatielWorld.org

This was very intersting:
Structure mutations:
In principle all the structural elements can be changed by mutation. Even the form of barbs and barbules.
Classification psittacine- en structure factors

I really don't know, but budgies have been bred for longer feathers and larger crests - English budgies - so I would assume that the same can happen with cockatiels when selectively breeding. My Winston has longer and fuller feathers than Jerry has.

I'm interested in seeing pics of the feather differences if you have some, I'm curious!

Can you post a photo of each?

Thanks, everybody! Karen, the links are very interesting and provide a good deal of information, especially the Bourke's Parakeet site. Cindy, I'll post some side by side comparisions soon. I've got a lot of family things we're working on that will probably hold me back from getting things done. I'm interested in really looking at side by sides myself!