I am posting this tonight in the hope that some of you who have experience in taking care of strays can give me some guidance.

The situation:  Have a female cat who hid a litter of kittens(i.e. I didn't know they were in my yard until a month ago-mom kept them hidden) and they are all coming to my house to eat now they are weaned.  I cannot take them inside since I already am at my limit for cats .  Are they possible candidates for adoption?  Several of them are very skittish and won't let me touch them, while Mommy and others kittens are willing to be petted.  Is it too late for them to be socialized?

I have been calling local animal rescue people for advice but no one returns my calls.  I think they must be overloaded with animals and can't help with any more.

I need to get them fixed soon but don't know whether I am going to have a small feral group on my hands or can find homes for them.  I can get traps to catch and fix but then I am the "owner".  What are my odds for finding them homes? I will check back tomorrow for your posts.  thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Where do you live?  In many areas some groups do trap and release programs where they will loan you the traps and defer the cost of spay/neutering.  Many will even do it for free or for a small donation....  If they are kittens you should be able to easily socialize them.  A lot of times I find w/ kittens it just a matter of getting your hand one them.  Once you do, and they realize you are a source of good things they quickly come around.  If Momma is allowing you to pet her...that is a good sign. 

I suggest posting on Petfinder that you have kittens available for adoption.  Also many rescue groups will not necessarily 'take' the kittens but will allow you to bring them to adoption days & will post pics of the cats to their website if you are willing to be a foster. 

Good luck!! 

West Valley City, Utah: TNR
No More Homeless Pets in Utah and West Valley Shelter Feral Cat Partnership is an innovative partnership that saw a 40 percent decrease in cat intake into the shelter after a six-month feral cat Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program.

West Valley Shelter is Utah's third largest shelter based on animal intake. The shelter handles on average over 4,000 animals annually. By year-end 2001, 2,768 of the 4,136 animals impounded were euthanized; the majority of these were cats.

No More Homeless Pets in Utah and West Valley Shelter devised a new strategy centered around a feral cat program run by NMHP in Utah and volunteers. From March 2004 through February 2005, participants in the program:
 

• Trapped, neutered, and returned 508 cats
• Removed 78 kittens and placed them into outside rescue agencies
• Relocated 31 cats

As a result of this brief but intensive TNR effort:
 

• Shelter intake of cats decreased 26.58 percent.
• Feline euthanasia dropped by 34 percent, with the drop attributed directly to this program. (During the same period statewide, cat intake was only down 3.43 percent and cat euthanasia down 4.88 percent.)
• Each cat trapped, neutered, and returned in this effort results in 0.62 cats never entering the shelter. TNR targets the root of the overpopulation problem by stopping the breeding. TNR programs result in small, stable colonies of cats that gradually reduce in size. This translates into savings of $29,120-$60,976 for West Valley Shelter in only nine months from the Feral Fix program alone. (The shelter does not have a per-animal cost for impounding, housing, and destroying animals. Their savings calculation is based on the range of per-animal costs reported by other communities around the country, from $65 to $148 per animal.)
• After recognizing the success, West Valley City now funds $50,000 of a spay/neuter program for animals belonging to low-income residents of the city. For more information on this program, please visit the No More Homeless Pets in Utah website

We had a stray (wildborn) cat give birth to two kittens in our yard about 8 years ago, one seemed friendly and the other was skiddish.  We kept the friendly one and had the animal control officer take the other one.  (we were trying to catch the mother so we could have her fixed....with help from some animal group).  After having the mother cat fixed....she adopted US!.   They are now two of the friendliest....cuddlest.....neediest cats we have ever owned.....

Try contacting http://www.alleycat.org/  Alley cat Allies:)  They are VERY helpful with the exact situation you describe....they should be able to help and talk you through what to do, as well as put you in contact with any local groups for help.