A long period carrying fruit and feathers (8)

'feathers' is the definition.
('plumage' can be a synonym of 'feather')

'a long period carrying fruit' is the wordplay.
'a long period' becomes 'ages' (I've seen this in another clue).
'carrying' says to put letters next to each other (in a down clue, the bottom letters carry others).
'fruit' becomes 'plum' (plum is a kind of fruit).
'ages' put after 'plum' is 'PLUMAGES'.

'and' is the link.