newbie with stray kittie problems :(

I live in SE denver and have a homeless (Mother and kittens) family living next door. I do not think the mother is feral, rather abandoned because she is nervous but does not run away from me and lets me talk to her from a couple feet distance. The kittens (6 weeks of age or so) were obviously born outdoors.
The other night we set up a big dog crate with food in it in by a shed the family sometimes stays. I was able to catch a kitten about an hour later, transport him in the crate to a neighbor's house. Though nervous the kitten allows us to hold him and is becoming slowly adapted to domestic life, though he still remains in the cage. He also appears to be in VERY good health.
The remaining 4 kittens and the mother have been alternating between the shed and tent which covers a (covered) hot tub. This is where the family was originally found. We are feeding the cats at both locations and are able to quietly observe them eating and playing. Problem is, we live near a real busy street and have foxes that live around. Everytime we set up the dog crate or squirrell/skunk trap they eat the food and then alternate shelters. If it were the case that we caught the mother before all of the kittens, we would of course let her out. I think that if we are able to get her and socialize her, we might be able to turn her over to a shelter to be adopted. Catching them have become trickier since we took one of the kittens and we dont want them to move out of the neighborhood for good. Should we back off or continue to set traps?

Thanks

Welcome to the site!

I'll move this to Caring for Strays & Ferals where our experts can help you with your question.

But I do have a couple resources, if you are looking for help:

Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance

Cat Care Society

These are both good no-kill organizations that both work with ferals.

I would recommend continuing to set traps. If you catch the momma first, I would not release the mother cat unless the kittens are too young to have been weaned - it may be _very_ difficult to retrap her later. You can use her as "bait" to catch the kittens and vice versa. It will likely take some time but it can be done.

Others with vastly more experience than myself should be along with advice later.

I would also take the kitten to the vet rather quickly. It is likely there is a parasite problem, probably a flea problem and depending on the age, the vet will advise you how to go from here. I would also continue trapping, and know that you will probably catch wild animals and other cats in the trap.They do have kitten traps, but those have to be monitored, because a small adult cat can also get inside and they will go ballistic if that happens.

Well as far as the vet trips, that is out of my hand as my neighbors have the kittens at their house and are planning to keep them (If i had them theyd have been at the vet already) But if i didnt know better, id guess they live indoors.... clear eyes, not too skinny (but no abdominal swelling) This includes all kittens and momma. We set the trap and are continuing to monitor it today and tonite