OSRS Birdhouse Nerf 2026: New XP Rates & Best Hunter Training Methods

The birdhouse meta is over — and that's a good thing for anyone who actually wants to train Hunter.

On 19 August 2026, Summer Sweep-Up batch 3 nerfed birdhouse Hunter XP by up to 60% while buffing bird nest output by ~50%, turning the passive method into a nest-money activity rather than an XP engine. In the same update, falconry, deadfall traps, and aerial fishing all got real buffs.

If you've been doing birdhouse runs since level 9, here's the new math, and what to train instead.

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Birdhouse XP Nerf: Old vs New

Birdhouse	Old XP per House	New XP per House	Change	XP per Run (4 houses)
Regular	112	45	-60%	179
Oak	168	67	-60%	269
Willow	224	90	-60%	358
Teak	280	112	-60%	448
Maple	369	166	-55%	664
Mahogany	480	240	-50%	960
Yew	612	367	-40%	1,469
Magic	969	824	-15%	3,295
Redwood	1,200	1,200	Unchanged	4,800

The nerf is deliberately steepest at the low end — the tiers most people used to cruise through 9-70. Redwood birdhouses, the highest tier, are untouched.

The Nest Buff

To offset, nests got better:

• Rolls per nest lowered from 10 to 5
• Success rate per roll tripled

That maths out to roughly +50% more nests overall, and — importantly — far less variance. The old system was spiky: some runs overfilled your inventory, others came back empty. Nests are now more consistent, which matters because seed and tree seed nests still sell for a solid profit. Birdhouses remain a genuinely good passive money method for mains and ironmen; they're just no longer a training method.

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Why Jagex Did It

The rationale from the update post is worth quoting, because it explains the whole philosophy shift: birdhouses accounted for ~80% of all Hunter XP gained between level 30 and 80 — the most skewed of any skill. When one method dominates like that, every alternative Hunter activity becomes "dead content," and new methods can't be added to fill the middle game.

The goal: birdhouses are now something you opt into for nests, while the Hunter-flavoured methods (traps, rumours, falconry) become the real training path.

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Best Hunter Training Now (2026 Rates)

The buffed methods from the same update make this the best time in years to train Hunter actively:

Method	Level	XP/hr	Notes
Hunter Rumours	72+	160K (250K at 99)	The post-nerf king. Back-to-back rumours, block list optimised
Black Chinchompas	73+	145-225K solo	Fastest in the game, but Wilderness PK risk
Razor-backed Kebbits	49-73	up to 130-140K	Ring of pursuit + stamina potions; now beats old birdhouse effective rates
Falconry	43-69	60-95K	Big QoL buffs this update (below)
Deadfall Kebbits	1-49	massively buffed	Two traps from level 1, 8-tick catches (below)
Drift Net Fishing	44+	~60K + Fishing	Still the dual-train choice
Aerial Fishing	35+	50-60K + pearls	Rewards halved in cost this update (below)

The headline shift: active Hunter methods now beat the old birdhouse effective rates for the same time spent, and the mid-game (49-73) is no longer a dead zone. Hunter Rumours at 72+ is the single best all-round pick — safe, profitable, and now clearly the best XP until you're ready for Wilderness chins.

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Every Other Hunter Change (Batch 3)

Deadfall Traps — the early-game fix

• Two traps from level 1 (was level 20) — except Maniacal Monkeys, still one trap
• 75% chance to preserve your log when placing a trap
• Traps now catch 8 ticks (4.8s) after placing, down from 15 ticks
• Wild and Prickly Kebbit catch rates significantly increased
• Kebbit/fox XP lowered ~20-27%, but the rate changes net out to a big XP/hr increase

The mid-game hunt — Feldip weasels through Prickly Kebbits — got dramatically better, exactly where the birdhouse nerf hit hardest.

Falconry — the QoL pass

• No longer held in place while the falcon chases — you can reposition freely
• Catch kebbits with a full inventory (excess resources discarded, furs kept for the Fur pouch)
• Bonecrusher synergy: bones keep getting crushed for Prayer XP even with a full inventory, and the Bonecrusher necklace keeps restoring Prayer

Aerial Fishing — cheaper and smoother

• Quick-catch range expanded from 5x5 to 7x7 — easier tick-perfect chains
• New toggle lets your cormorant eat fish instead of needing bait offcuts — far less click-intensive
• Molch Pearls up ~50%
• Fishing Sack: 1,000 → 500 pearls (refund for owners), Angler's Outfit pieces: 100 → 50
• Shark lure pack added (100 lures for 1 pearl)

At half the pearl cost and 50% more pearls, the rewards grind got roughly 3x faster.

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Other Skilling Changes in the Same Update

Worth knowing even if Hunter isn't your goal:

• Guardians of the Rift: Abyssal Needle now purchasable for 750 Abyss Pearls; the Abyssal Lantern works outside GOTR with Willow, Blisterwood, Magic, and Redwood logs; the Guardian's Eye now unlocks a permanent Rift Guardian metamorphosis instead of sitting in your bank. Full context in our Guardians of the Rift guide.
• Tempoross: Fish Barrel and Tackle Box purchasable for 6,000 Spirit Flakes each — check your rates with the Tempoross Calculator.
• Run energy: completing a quest fully restores Run Energy and cures poison; Energy potions buffed to 15% per dose and added to early-game drop tables — a quiet buff for anyone following our beginner roadmap.

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The Bottom Line

Birdhouses are now a money run, not a training run — do them for the +50% nests, not the XP. If you want Hunter levels, active methods have never been better: deadfalls from level 1, falconry and kebbits through the 40s-70s, then Rumours or black chins to 99. Our Hunter guide and best training methods post cover the full routes, and the Bird House Run Calculator still handles the nest-economics side of runs.

These changes were part of Summer Sweep-Up batch 3 — the full round-up is in our Summer Sweep-Up 2026 post.

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Related Tools & Guides

• Hunter Guide — Full 1-99 routes with post-nerf rates
• Bird House Run Calculator — Nest economics per run
• Farming Timers — Pair birdhouse runs with herb runs
• Best Training Methods 2026 — Where Hunter fits in the skill meta
• Guardians of the Rift Guide — The new Abyssal Needle and Lantern changes
• Tempoross Calculator — Spirit Flake economy after the reward additions