Hi DebsD
Don’t worry this was an ok place to post.
I wouldn’t move the hog house until the hog has vacated. By which I mean it is no longer still spending the day there (not just vacated for nighttime wanderings). If it is a male he may move on fairly soon – they do tend to move sleeping places fairly often. Then you could clean the house out (using boiling water, not chemicals to kill any parasite eggs) and move it to your preferred location.
Having said that, if the rat is still around, I suspect it would still find the house – they are intelligent animals. But if the hog doesn’t like it it could move out (then you can clean the house, etc.) If the hog is an adult and fit and healthy the rat probably won’t bother it.
Meanwhile if you want to deter the rat from visiting, make absolutely certain that it doesn’t get any food either from the hog food or from any bird food you might put out. The bird food is what normally attracts rats, so if you can prevent it from getting any of that, hopefully the rat will choose to go elsewhere instead.
Good luck.
