Hi Hal_Chase,
I’ve never come across a situation of hogs clearing themselves out before hibernation – and I’m sure this would have become more obvious to hog watchers before now. Green Poo for hogs is not a good sign.
sounds like you have been doing all the right things on the food front – but as we know – hogs will seek food from various available sources, so it could have come from anywhere!
Hibernation is still a lot of guess work on the part of us simple humans. Temperature is one factor, available day time light and food are also factors – and the hog themselves of course. some don’t seem to hibernate at all – but studies have shown that milder winters result in shorter hibernation periods and increased hog activity than colder ones (but this could also be due to greater food availability if milder). Males tend to hibernate before females, but this is considered to be a result of males not having had to give birth and feed young, and therefore have a less variable body weight and more consistent fat reserves that enable them to do so. they also tend to wake earlier, and that is probably due to their earlier hibernation and standing a chance of looking for females to breed with as early as possible.
I think some hogs have probably gone into hibernation – and some posts on this forum suggest that also – but I think quite a few are still around.
If you were seeing 5 or 6 different hogs every night until recently – it would seem unusual that they all decided to go off and hibernate at the same time. But then – stranger things have happened in the Mysterious World of the Hog!
