I still don't understand something. If I'm at color A and let's say I wanna get to color D, can I get there in a single feeding, or do I have to wait for each "feathers" message"?

In other words, Can I skip steps or do I have to feed till one message, wait, feed till 2nd message, wait, etc?

I've heard food fed after the first feathers message is a waste, but I also heard it will count. As in you can go from yellow to white/black in a single 6 hour feeding.