Roll your marabou

When tying with marabou, it is not always the easiest to get it to sit neatly on top of the hook shank. When you cut the marabou from the main stem of the feather, take the clump of marabou at the butt section and roll it between your fingers, almost like you would do with dubbing. Roll it in one direction, until it is a firm tight bunch. This will be a nice tight clump of marabou at the butt section and the fibers will still be loose and free.
Depending on what you want to tie, you can cut this at an angle for a gradual slope or a square cut if it has to be pushed up against a bead.