New to helping strays, am I doing this correctly?

Greetings everyone! I'm new to taking care of strays, and I have an intended goal in mind. I'm just looking for some advice, and wondering if I'm going about things correctly. Apologies for the huge wall of text.

During the last few months of summer I began seeing a black stray in the vacant wooded lot next to my house that looked almost exactly like my indoor cat who my fiance and I had rescued from the wild as a kitten a year earlier. Looking so similar to my #1 feline, I felt a sort of personal responsibility to help this cat. I began leaving food and fresh water outside every night after work, around 10:00pm. The food was always gone in the morning, with little black kitty hairs in the bowl confirming a cat was the one doing the feasting. My curiosity for this cat soon became what felt like an all out obsession. I put together an insulated rubbermaid shelter, complete with an outdoor heating pad for cold nights, and continued the feeding schedule. 

I wanted to confirm once and for all that it was a cat I was helping, and not a raccoon. I set food out, and a small video camera to record the action. To my surprise, it was two cats I was helping! They were clearly related, with very similar markings. They seemed very affectionate with each other, which made me happy to know they weren't alone out there. The next phase in my plan began. I began putting the food out, and sitting out to watch. I started sitting about 50 feet away, and after a bit of waiting the two cats would come over and eat, although they were very skittish and jumped at the slightest movement, but always came back. Every night I moved the chair a bit closer, and made sure to keep talking and making soothing noises. Over the course of a week I was able to sit within four feet of them while they ate. It seemed to be really fast progress.

Finally being so close to them, I was pretty upset to see they were tiny. Less than a year old, but different ages. The smallest seems to be in the awkward phase where it still has a kitten face, but is growing a cat body. The other is a little older, but I wouldn't put it at more than 8-9 months old. I decided I wanted to trap them and bring them into a safer environment. I borrowed a humane trap from a friend of mine, and I was able to catch both of them within a half hour of setting up the trap. Now time for phase two!

I released the two cats into my outdoor screen/sun room, with window facing into my kitchen. They of course went nuts the first few minutes, climbing the walls and bouncing all over the place. I continued their feeding schedule, installed a feliway plug-in, moved their rubbermaid shelter into the screen room so they have a safe spot, and hoped for the best.

The first few days they were hidden under a couch, refusing to move. I would leave food and water for them, and they would only eat in the late hours of the night when no one was around. After a few days I began to see them exploring from time to time through the window, but they would hide as soon as they saw me. I do my best to not make eye contact, and I do the slow blink/head turn/ignore them strategy when looking into the room. I see a lot more of them now when I'm not in there. I've even gotten them to take a few swats at a laser pointer i shine through the window to them. When I feed them, I hang out in the room for a while after placing the food, but they have yet to come out from hiding with me in the room. If I enter and catch them off guard in a non hiding spot, they'll just hunker down and watch me, and come out to eat as soon as I leave the room. They also use their litter boxes like pros, which surprised me. Any time I leave the room I leave a few treats wherever I was sitting. Any time I'm able to get relatively close, they make a small hiss and jump, but that's the worst of it. When watching them through the window, they'll stare at me, slow blink, and even close their eyes at me, which I assume is a good sign.

My biggest question is, am I going about this correctly? My ultimate goal is to have them fixed and kept as indoor mouse/barn cats, but I want them to be sociable with me and not dart for cover whenever they see me. I'm not expecting them to turn into lap cats any time soon, but I'd like to someday be able to give them a good scratch behind the ears. Is there anything I'm not doing that I should be, or anything I'm doing that I shouldn't be? Thank you for any help!

Hi and Welcome to TCS!  

Thanks for taking care of these Kitties!!!

I think you are off to a great start, and you seem to have made remarkable progress.

It will clearly take them some time to get used to not being able to go back to the woods

or wherever they are used to playing and sleeping.

Along those lines, do you have anything there for them to do or play with?

A cat tree and/or staggered shelves would be nice,

and some kind of toys - perhaps hanging from the ceiling or a shelf,

and a few paper balls (clean white paper only please) would be nice  

Keep up the great effort, and please keep us posted! 

Hello and welcome!!! You are doing just great! Thank you for taking them in. Here is an article that will offer you some more assistance for this process http://www.catnipchronicles.com/may2012/laurie.htm I would also recommend vertical space for them. Even boxes taped together with duck tape and stacked can make great little fun hiding spots for the cats. Keep the cats confined in your sun room until they are more trusting of you. If you intend to keep them as barn kitties make sure they know that the barn is their home first before releasing. I was a bit confused about the indoor mouse/barn cats. I am sure they could very well be happy as indoor kitties too. Do keep us posted on your progress!!!

Are they opposite genders? If they are, then fixing them is going to be a priority because of how small and young they are. A litter of kittens would not be good for the female. They seem like they might be siblings or mother-and-kitten, on top of it; cat friends often are. I guess they'd have to be trapped and taken to the vet, and it would set you back some in winning their trust; but at least you could get them neutered and vaccinated and treated for fleas and such. If they are the same sex, it isn't nearly as urgent. Let's hope they are, so they have some time to settle in before you have to worry about neutering anybody.

But yes, you are doing wonderfully. They are learning that you are a friend. Cats are perceptive like that--especially ferals, who have an uncanny sense for danger simply because any cat that doesn't can't survive in the wild. The species gap might mean that they'll never be lap cats, but many of us have been able to touch ferals we've helped. It often starts with a fingertip-to-nose sniff as you're bringing them food. At the very least, they seem to be getting comfortable around you, and that is the biggest hurdle.

Just figured I'd post a quick update on my progress.

SevenWonders: They have a few cat toys out there like mice and ball/bells and such, as well as some feathers. There are a lot of chairs and benches and such stacked in there for the winter that they climb and sleep on during the day.

Feralvr: They have a lot of hiding spaces between all of the chairs, benches, couch, and other furniture out there, so they're covered. They make it well known that they can hide when I'm out there feeding them, make no mistake. What I meant by indoor/barn cat was that I mostly want them to remain barn cats to keep the rodent population in check, but also to not be afraid of me and/or taking a step into the house from time to time.

Callista: As far as I'm able to tell so far they are both the same sex. I haven't seen any dangley bits towards the rear yet. I'm scheduled to have them fixed in the next two weeks.

The two have been indoors for nearly a month now, and I feel like I've made almost no progress, or have even started to move backwards. Previously the two would just hide under a couch when I would enter the screen room, now they have resorted hiding in their shelter, growling, and hissing at my mere presence. They still pop right out as soon as I leave the room, however. I have been leaving them little treats any time I'm in the room, which they promptly gobble up. I've been attempting to lure them close to my hand by offering them some chunks of chicken, but I'm starting to run out of unscratched fingers at this point. I did manage to get each of them to at least sniff the chicken on my hand, but not much else. They still refuse to let themselves be seen while I'm in the room. They do come out during the day and watch me through the window though, and even seem curious about what's going on inside the house.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't becoming completely discouraged by now. The fact that they seem to be moving in reverse at this point has me feeling that I'm doing more harm than good, and considering just fixing them and letting them go about their way.

Anyway, here is a picture and short video clip of them stalking my chickens yesterday morning. All this activity less than five seconds after I left the room, after sitting in there for an hour. 

heres a good video

Another small update: I've been going about business as usual. They're more comfortable with being out while I'm in the room, although they still keep their distance. My last few days off I've made it a point to sort of push their limits a bit. I've been able to gently scratch each of their backs by slowly reaching towards them. The big one just moves a few steps out of reach, while the little one hisses and runs off. She's going to be the harder of the two to win over. They're more comfortable being closer to the window while I'm inside, as well. Here's another picture of them right outside the window, after spending some time out in the room.

It sounds like you're doing all the right things, and I certainly admire your patience and taking care of these cats.

Continue feeding them on a schedule when they are indoors; when/if they become barn cats continue on the same schedule and they'll become more comfortable with you.  I take care of a feral/stray cat colony.  You might try brushing them, even one or two strokes.  That way they get use to something toucing them without it being a human.   It's one of the first motions my friend did with the litter she rescued three years ago; Ritz is now a lap cat and sleeps with me, although she is still a little skittish among people she doesn't know or sounds she isn't use to.