Hi peebee
How lucky having hoglets in your garden last year!
It’s great that you have a new hog box/house, There isn’t any time when it’s inappropriate to put one out. Hogs are known to change their nests during hibernation, so it would provide another potential site for them to do that. During the rest of the year hogs could potentially use them for nesting or napping in. So I would put it out as soon as possible.
Hogs sometimes won’t use new houses until they become part of the furniture, so even if you are planning on using it for food, there’s no reason not to put it out now, even if you don’t want to feed at the moment – although some people continue to leave small amounts of food out all winter for the hogs who have chosen not to hibernate.
But I got the impression you were intending a ‘home’ rather than a feeding station? If intending for a ‘home’ it might encourage a hog to use it sooner if you put in a handful of i.e. leaves in the hog house and leave a supply of potential nesting material (leaves, long grasses, etc.) nearby for them to take in if they wish. They do seem to like doing their own interior decorations.
Don’t forget to leave water out for the hogs all day every day. You never know when a thirsty hog might happen along – even during hibernation time.
Good luck. I hope the hogs make good use of the hog house.
