We had one adult hog walk through our garden this morning. Yes, of course I was concerned. However he knew exactly where he was going - so obviously a regular to our garden and he didn't stop at any of the water bowls that he passed. He is now asleep in the shade in our field and will hopefully come out tonight for the food we put out.
You could be right purplerallim, although I think he was leaving home - a young (last year's baby) hog who was out exploring. At least it came for food this evening as usual. I recognized it - it has just one tick near it's ear - I will have the tick remover if the little hog picks up any more.
Sad new about the 5 orphaned hoglets @Guernsey Donkey2 , all but one have died. The Rescue lady thinks it might be because they were premature, the one left is very tiny , she is fighting on but it will be a miracle if she makes it l think. She has also taken in a mum and baby - the nest was attacked by a dog in a garden. I won't go into the gruesome details on here, but 3 hoglets didn't survive. If mum and baby make it, they will be released in the same area, but not near that garden.
I have been wondering what had happened to the hedgehog who comes into our garden as I've been putting out hog food but it wasn't taken. Last night while still early around 7 pm he/she arrived and took the food. I built a hog house last year for them which has been use, should I clean it out and if so when (time of year) and with what just water?
All this rain ( we have had over 18 hours straight with more to come) is it good or bad for hogs/ birds? My bird food is going down very fast, a feeder a day, but the hog food is untouched. The baby birds in my garden look very bedraggled, but are still hopping around after food. I wonder if my garden is too far to come in bad weather for the hogs, or is the rain washing up lots of natural food for them.
Brilliant link @AnniD thanks. I've bookmarked it for later. I love the underbed storage box idea for a feeding station. There's a school on the other side of my fence, and behind that it's vast playing fields and then two woods. I'm hoping that once we have our garden properly up and running, including new holes in gravel boards, that they may come. I love hogs.
@purplerallim Hedgehogs seem to be like us, they're not very keen on rain. There would be more natural food around, slugs etc. so they may be less inclined to visit a feeding station. I think that when the weather is as wet and long lasting as we have had recently, they tend to put off leaving shelter until absolutely necessary, head for the feeding station then head for home again. "My" hedgehog has turned up much earlier the last couple of nights, cleared the bowl and headed off. As it has been so wet, we haven't put the camera out but l suspect that s/he didn't come back again.
Posts
She has also taken in a mum and baby - the nest was attacked by a dog in a garden. I won't go into the gruesome details on here, but 3 hoglets didn't survive. If mum and baby make it, they will be released in the same area, but not near that garden.
There's a school on the other side of my fence, and behind that it's vast playing fields and then two woods.
I'm hoping that once we have our garden properly up and running, including new holes in gravel boards, that they may come. I love hogs.
https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/cleaning-out-boxes/