Question: How do you make a bluebird house predator guard?

Question: How do you make a bluebird house predator guard?

Bluebird House Predator Guard Instructions from Myra S. with Greater Ozarks Audubon Society www.greaterozarksaudubon.org/

We buy the hardware cloth and cut and folder it, then use screws to attach it…..dimensions to cut it if you want to make them are below:

Cut a piece of hardware cloth 13″ to 14″ by 6″. Cut a 3/4″ cut every 3 ” along bottom (this will be bent outward to fit flush against the wood and to hold the screws). Bend the cloth every 3″ until you have a 6″ long rectangle, with a 1 to 2 inch overlap on one side. Then bend the bottom cuts out to a right angle to fit against the wood around the nest hole. Use 6 or 8 short screws to attach wire to box. It is good if you have sharp cut edges of wire sticking out in front of the nest box to further discourage predators.

I have seen some shaped into an elliptical predator guard. That would probably use less wire.