OSRS Birdhouse Run Guide: Money Making, Route and XP

Overview

A birdhouse run is four traps on Fossil Island, emptied and rebuilt every 50 minutes. The wiki times a run at about 1.4 minutes and lists about 61k profit per run with redwood houses at 99 Hunter, at its prices in October 2026. Each redwood run is also 4,800 Hunter XP.

They appear in the low-level money guide as a starter engine. This page is the dedicated money routine, a companion to that overview and the full Hunter 1-99 guide.

Nest prices decide most of the profit, and log prices decide most of the cost. Check both before you stock up.

Profit and XP per Run After the August 2026 Change

The 19 August 2026 Hunter and skilling update cut birdhouse Hunter XP on every tier below redwood: 60% off regular, oak, willow and teak, 55% off maple, 50% off mahogany, 40% off yew and 15% off magic. Nest rolls per house went from 10 to 5, with the success rate per roll tripled. Redwood XP was not changed.

The wiki's profit figure assumes 99 Hunter, redwood houses, a strung rabbit foot and bird's eggs offered at the shrine. Inputs are 4 redwood logs, 40 potato seeds and a fifth of a digsite pendant, about 3.5k in total. The clockwork comes back each time, so it is not a running cost. Output is about 64k of nests per run, mostly seed, ring and empty nests.

Lower Hunter means fewer nests. The seed nest roll depends only on Hunter level. The other five rolls depend on house tier at every level and also climb with Hunter level above 50. Treat 61k as the 99 Hunter figure, not what a level 50 account will see.

Requirements

Bone Voyage is the real gate. From oak up, making each tier needs one Crafting level more than the Hunter level needed to place it, for example 15 Crafting and 14 Hunter for oak. If Hunter is the wall between you and redwood houses at 89, Hunter training is one way through it.

Setup

Setup is four houses' worth of materials in the bank and a fixed route.

1. 1

   Finish Bone Voyage and unlock the digsite pendant teleport.

2. 2

   Make the highest birdhouse tier your Hunter and Crafting levels allow, or bring logs and a clockwork to rebuild on the spot.

3. 3

   Keep the cheapest seeds in a bank tab sized for several runs.

   Seed type does not change the loot.

4. 4

   Learn the route below once and never change it mid-run.

5. 5

   Set a 50-minute timer so the runs actually happen.

Birdhouse Run Route

Two spots are in Verdant Valley south of the Museum Camp, one is near the Mushroom Meadow mushtree, and one is by the entrance to the Tar Swamp. The wiki's route:

1. 1

   Teleport to Fossil Island with a digsite pendant.

2. 2

   Take the magic mushtree in the House on the Hill to Verdant Valley.

3. 3

   Do the northern house, then the southern one.

4. 4

   Take the mushtree to Mushroom Meadow and do the house to the north.

5. 5

   Run south to the Tar Swamp entrance for the last house, then bank the nests.

The Reset option on a full house dismantles it and builds a new one with the same clockwork, using a house or logs from your inventory. It saves clicks, but the wiki notes the automatic build is slower than building by hand. You still add the seeds yourself.

Costs to Subtract

Birdhouse costs are logs, seeds and teleports. Nest income has to clear all three.

• One log per new house (the clockwork is returned)
• Seeds used per house
• Digsite pendant charges
• GE tax if you sell nests
• Time, if you turn a two-minute run into a twenty-minute island tour

How to Calculate Realistic Profit

Profit per day = nest and loot value minus logs, seeds and teleports, across the runs you actually completed.

1. 1

   Track nests and notable loot across a full day of completed runs.

2. 2

   Value them at conservative GE prices.

3. 3

   Subtract logs, seeds and pendant charges.

4. 4

   Compare your per-run number with the wiki figure above.

5. 5

   Recheck bird nest prices whenever farming or seed prices shift.

Ironman Relevance

Birdhouses are core early iron Hunter XP and a steady source of seed nests for Farming. Treat GP as optional flavour.

See ironman money making for how passives fit the wider plan.

Common Mistakes

Missing runs because you "will do three later" is the main way birdhouses fail.

• Showing up without seeds
• Building a lower tier than your levels allow, when every tier takes the same 10 low-level or 5 high-level seeds
• Using expensive seeds, since every seed gives the same rewards
• Emptying a house early, which loses the house, the seeds and the loot so far
• Comparing birdhouse GP per hour to bossing without noting the minutes actually played

When to Move On

Switch when one of these is true:

• You never click the timer. Build the habit or drop the method.
• Log and seed costs exceed nest income for a sustained period after price checks.
• Your Hunter goals move to rumours or chins as the active focus. Keep birdhouses running as a passive anyway unless costs break.

FAQ

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