Hi mrsmh
Sometimes hoglets will appear after all the other hogs have disappeared. That may be what has happened. The other larger ones could have already gone to hibernate. The males do tend to go earlier than the females (and return earlier in the Spring).
I would keep feeding until the hogs stop eating and for a while after, in case any more hoglets appear. They sometimes keep appearing until quite late in the year – depending on the weather. But leaving water out all winter is a good idea, in case there are any that come out of hibernation for a while.
I tend to rely on natural materials, i.e. long (possibly ornamental) grasses and leaves (medium sized preferred by hogs) (i.e. the sort of materials they would find for themselves) but some people leave hay or straw out. The hogs usually prefer to make their own nests, so I would put, maybe a handful in any box, etc. which you would like them to use as a nest (to give them the idea) and leave the rest outside. If you can leave it in a slightly sheltered place (maybe under a bush) that might keep it a bit dry, but the underneath should keep fairly dry. (but you could make a little shelter if you wanted, fairly near to the hog house you hope they’ll use.) Hogs build quite elaborate nests for hibernation – as described above – and they are much better at nest building than we are.
A hog who built a nest here (opposite my camera), chose a dry night – or I should say morning. He was behaving normally until 5 a.m. when it was as if someone had turned a switch on and he started scurrying around collecting material for his nest. That lasted 2 hours. He didn’t finish it that day, but the next morning, the same thing happened 5 a.m. off he went again carrying huge mouthfuls of material into the box. Fascinating to watch on video.
I’m not sure if you meant the hoglet was sussing out the box you normally feed in, but they do sometimes decide to build nests in feeding boxes. The one I mentioned above did – I had to get another feeding box pretty quick as I had a bit of a cat problem at the time! But it is possible that you will find a hog in a feed box one day. I quite often find them in mine, in the Summer when one has decided to spend the day there. Usually if you very quietly put the lid back down, they will doze off again. But you might get some idea if a hog has been taking in nesting material – there might be a bit of a trail going up to the doorway!
Good luck. I hope a hog (or two) decides to use one of the places you’ve provided for them.
