Hi Trevathick
If you put bedding in the feed box, it is likely to give he hogs the idea that they might sleep in it, so it’s better really to keep feeding boxes with plain wooden floors. No if a hog decides to nest in one of your feed boxes, you shouldn’t use it for feeding. If you want to encourage them to nest in either I would suggest the wooden box. Otherwise there might be condensation problems if they nested in the plastic box.
But I would encourage them by using natural nesting material – torn up paper is fine for hogs which have to be kept inside for some reason, but outside their preference is medium sized leaves, but also some long grasses to help weave things together. With leaves they can make a waterproof nest, whereas paper would be likely to soak up and retain any moisture.
Unless you are going to have a new box somewhere quiet, I wouldn’t start moving the boxes you already have around now. It’s the hogs’ choice whether they use them or not, but they might not mind the patio.
