Stray cat gave birth

Question
Hi, a stray cat showed up on our property and took up residence.  She's very friendly and will even come into the house at times.  Turned out she was pregnant and I couldn't find where she had her kittens.  She apparently decided that the best place to have her kittens a week ago was the cement drainage ditch in front of our house (and not the garage where she usually hangs out).  I am unable to actually reach the kittens (they are in the middle of the cement pipe and I'm too large to fit inside).  It rained last night for the first time in weeks.  The kittens appeared to be okay - apparently when she was digging a hole in the sand/dirt she made a dam at the back end.  After the rain ended I took a flashlight and went down to check on them and she began nursing them.  This morning, I saw her carrying one of the kittens through the yard towards the garage.  I thought that she was in the process of moving them all and I didn't see where she took the one kitten.  I looked everywhere for her and finally found her back in the cement pipe nursing the remaining kittens.  I can't figure out what she did with the one kitten, or where she took it.  If I could find it, I would nurse it.  Is it possible that she was rejecting this kitten and taking it away from the rest of the litter?  If so, could you please help me on where she might have taken it?  Would she have gone to leave it in the woods to die?  Or would she have buried it?  Put it under a bush?  I have spent the entire morning looking around the property for any place that a cat might deposit a kitten, but have come up emptyhanded.  I would like to be able to get to the other kittens (as we are expecting more rain), but I don't want to run the risk of injuring them trying to get them out.  HELP!!  

Answer
It is definitely possible that she took this one away because it was ill or deformed or some such thing and as things are in nature, she must feed the healthiest which will survive and sacrifice any she doubts will live or be healthy. I cannot guess where she would have put it but she would likely have stopped nursing it if she separated it. Kittens will cry pretty loudly when hungry unless tooo weak to do so, and it is possible the kitten died and she was taking away the body. I don't know how you could locate it if its not crying, I'm afraid, unless its just by luck or chance. I am so saddened and sorry. But keep hope; do listen carefully if at all possible for soft mewing (a weak kitten) or scratching. That would be the best clue.

As far as getting at the others, if she is not around and you can reach them, you won't hurt them to pull them out if it is feasible. The only problem would be mom-cat who will come looking and find her brood gone. So if you do remove them, I suggest you keep them enclosed (like a kennel cage) so they don't get away but place them somewhere she can find them. If you have them, and she is friendly as you say, then you can coax her in as well and she can continue to care for them with your help. Even if she is feeding them, if she is ill or weak, she may need help by you feeding as well. be sure to use a proper kitten formula and not milk which can cause diarhea which can be fatal. It is possible the one kit did die because mom is short on milk and it was too weak to push its way to a nipple through its siblings.

Also, once you are able to get to mom it would be the greatest opportunity and service if you would get her to a vet and have her spayed. Prevention is the best cure to the suffering you have seen happen to her kittens.

Please let me know how things go and anything I can help with.