Hi Shelley112
That’s lovely that you’ve made houses for the hogs and even better that someone has taken up residence so quickly!
Males make good use of hog houses as well so it’s quite likely it’s a male – but otherwise possibly a non-breeding female. The females usually make their nests fairly shortly before giving birth and people often see them taking nesting materials in – sometimes into daylight time. But if a female had youngsters I wouldn’t expect her to be out for so long.
If it is a male he may not stay long term – it can vary from one hog to another, but some will change sleeping places fairly often in the Summer, sometimes sleeping outside under bushes, etc. But if ‘he’ does move out he could return again later in the season. Male hogs have larger ranges than females and can travel as much as 2 miles a night – so they may decide to sleep in other parts of their ranges from time to time. Here male hogs often decide to bed down in feeding houses (after ‘a night on the tiles’!) for a day or two, but then move on to sleep elsewhere afterwards.
But it’s a definite hog seal of approval that the hog house has been used so quickly.
Good luck and happy hog watching.
