Hi Claire
Welcome to the Forum! And don’t worry, you’re fine asking questions here. So sorry to hear about the poor hog with the broken leg. Very sad.
Ideally it’s best to keep residential hog boxes a bit apart from feeding boxes – not least because a female wanting to use a box to give birth in may be put off by having rowdy males meeting outside! Having said that, on lots of occasions hogs have decided to bed down for the night in feeding boxes (mostly males, seemingly after beeing caught short after a night on the tiles!). Those stays have usually only lasted a night or two. But also sometimes they decide to build hibernation nests in them, even if they don’t always use them – for hibernation, at least.
If you want a box to be used for nesting/hibernation, it’s best to leave only a small amount of material (about a handfull) inside to give them the idea and leave a good supply nearby. Most hogs seem to like to do their own interior decoration – and they are far better nest builders than us humans! Medium sized leaves and long grasses are the best and most natural nesting materials.
As Tom55 says, hogs do tend to disappear and re-appear from time to time so it’s a good idea to keep leaving food and water out in case. There isn’t really any regular time when they might return. (I sometimes think they like to keep us guesssing!)
Water also is really important to leave out all day every day even in winter when you may think there aren’t any hogs around. As Tom55 suggests, you never know when a thirsty hog might temporarily or otherwise come out of hibernation and be desperate for a drink.
Some people continue to leave some food out during the winter for the same reason. Dried food is better for that as it’s less likely to go off (or freeze) if it doesn’t get eaten immediately. Other people stop when the last hog has gone to hibernate. Although I would suggest offering food for at least 2 weeks after the last hog is seen. Sometimes more (especially young ones) appear.
Also bear in mind that some hogs decide not to hibernate at all – again, especially young ones – and during the winter a non-hibernating hog will be more reliant on the food you offer, with less natural food being around.
Good luck. I hope you get a hog or maybe even hogs again there soon.
