Help! Stray litter in my garden

First of all, welcome to TCS!

And how wonderful of you to want to take care of them!

There's a couple of ways to go about this, but it depends upon whether you want them to be indoor/outdoor or indoor only... and whether you have a spare room you can close off somehow - like a guest bedroom, an office/computer room or something, where you can bring them inside full time (at least for a while).

The quickest way to socialize scared cats is to trap them, hopefully the next step is to get them to a vet for flea/parasite treatment, a general check-up, and then release them into the "safe" room. Being with scared mom will influence the kittens, but they are definitely young enough they'll get friendly fairly quickly.

Mom definitely needs to be spayed. If you're going to bring them in, definitely best to get mom spayed after trapping and before releasing into the safe room.

If they're going to be outdoor kitties, mom still needs to be spayed, but it'd be best to wait a few weeks so the kittens are completely weaned. At 12 weeks, she'll start pushing them away, or wander off... unless there's a regular/steady food source. She'll still encourage them to become independent of her. The feral mom we didn't trap in time and her kittens never cross paths anymore, but there are plenty that remain social. There's just no way to know what will happen there.

But even if you wait until the kitties are 8 weeks old or so to spay mom, if you want them to be indoor or indoor/outdoor pets, it's still probably best to bring the kittens inside, at least until they're socialized (a few months? It can really vary).

If you don't have a room to separate them from your other cats and dog, then just spending as much time outside while they're around is the best thing to do. Just keep holding out food for them to eat, or sit a ways away from the food dish(es), and just move a little closer every few days. Talk to them without looking at them. Remember things like... standing up, you look big and scary. So sitting/crouching will make you look less scary. Don't look them in the eyes, this is a sign of aggression.

Cats learn really well by association, and they're very scent driven. So you can get an old t-shirt or something really good and sweaty, and leave it under their food dish(es). This will help them associate you with good things, along with the holding food out to them. (They will start running less and less, especially if you don't try to pet them until they're comfortable near you).

But we can give you better advice if we know a bit more about what "adopt" means to you.

Oh how wonderful of you to care for this little family. And WELCOME to the site.

You have gotten great advice from LDG and we do need to know what you mean by "adopt". There are a few options here too. If you think the rains will hold off for two more weeks, then I would wait to trap until the kittens are a bit older and then they could all be sterilized right away. They have to be at least 2 pounds. Spend as much time as you can outside and start getting them to trust you even more than you have. Keep feeding as much as you can by hand!!! That is FABULOUS progress if they will take food and "run for their lives" . If you can make friends with them outside before they are trapped and brought in, the process of socialization will go a bit more smoothly because they already rely on you for food and are starting to trust. Mom WILL need to be separated from the kittens , after you trap (only if kittens are weaned). Otherwise, the kittens will follow mom's lead. This will take much longer then to socialize the little ones. Mom needs her own space and the kittens need their own space. I have a large Midwest Cat Playpen for situations like this. I would put the mom or the kittens in the tall, cage. Probably the kittens. As the sooner you can start petting, the better. If the kittens are confined to a room, make sure there are no hiding places where you cannot reach them. I buy (from Walmart) those velcro together square tent-like hideaways. They are very cheap and the kittens will have a place to hide but you can still reach them easily. If you have a bed in the "safe" room, put the mattresses on the floor and put away the bed frame for now. I may be getting ahead of things here, as not sure if you want to bring them in.

Mom cat might or might not be a true feral cat. You won't know this until you can get closer to her (after you trap her). If you plan to keep her inside too, we can help you through that process as well. Well, this is a start and again, thanks for caring about the homeless kitties