Question with socialing feral kittens

Hi. I am new to the site and I'm hoping to get some advice. I am a foster mom. We foster thru our local shelter. Right now we have 3 feral kittens around 8 weeks. I have had them in a seperate room in a large cage. The 2 girls still hiss and run everytime you open the door. You can take them out and they let you hold and pet them with no problem but once you put them down they run away as fast as they can. We have been letting them have to room and get them back in the cage with food. I was thinking of moving the cage into the living room to get them used to us but im not sure if that is a great idea. I wondered what you guys think

Absolutely! At 8 weeks it's definitely time to socialize them. If it's not done now it's only going to get harder.

The more they are around people and handled, the quicker they will acclimate and learn to trust. The sooner they domesticate and can learn to play comfortably outside their cage the better.

Do they have toys in their cage? Playing with the kittens with an interactive toy in the room they are in they will also help them to learn to trust you.

Let us know how it goes! Good luck!

Thank you. I will move the cage today and let you know how things go

There are pros and cons to keeping them in a separate room and to moving their cage into the living room. I always socialize our ferals/fosters in a very large bedroom that we've totally "feral proofed" before bringing them in - - in other words, we take away every possible hiding place (remember - kittens can fit into TINY spaces!!) like we remove the bed frame and put the mattress on the floor, block off under and behind all furniture, etc. So that's a lot easier to do with a smaller room with a door than a living room that's probably also open to other rooms. But I work from home so I can work from the room where they are - even sleep in the room - so I can spend a lot of time with any feral kittens we have. If you can't spend alot of time (because TIME is one of the biggest factors in socializing ferals - the more time the better!!!!) in the room they're in now - moving them to a room you're able to be in more is probably a good idea. But since they're still at the "run from you" stage (which I know how hard it is to get feral kittens past that!) be aware that the last thing you need to do is have them panic, run and hide somewhere where they get stuck or you can't get them out from. I know first-hand how it can set things back with a kitten if you have to drag them kicking and screaming from under a couch, etc. 

Let us know what you end up doing and how it goes! The biggest thing is patience - working with feral kittens is hard work, but so so so rewarding! Know that you're hopefully making them far more adoptable - which is the best feeling in the world! Good luck!

I do have a room just like that for our new kittys but I think these guys need to be around us more then some of the other ones we have fostered. I was thinking to let them have play time in the kitty room and I will hang out there with them. But the times they are not out in there room to keep them in there cage in living room. How does that sound ?

I think that sounds perfect! Keeping them in their cage in the living room so they can learn that people sounds aren't scary is great. But letting them out in the kitty room is the perfect balance. Don't know if you do this already - but you might also leave a radio or tv on softly in the kitty room when they're there and you're not. It lessens the panic about other sounds in the house and gets them even more used to random people noise. Talk radio is good on the radio. 

But keeping their cage out in the living room when you're out there is great! Just make sure you have plenty of "hands on time" with them - which for now should probably be the kitty room. 

Let us know how it goes today. It will take time and patience. Every situation is different.