Best online place to buy nipples for a watering system?

[jmagill]

I have used the cups. I have several sitting in the spare parts chicken bin. I get no dirt with the chicken nipples. I always had dirt in the cups especially when raising chicks and the chick dust is flying.or when the adults are dust bathing.

Freezing is a big problem for the cups. You can not stop the water in the cup from freezing. As soon as it freezes there is no water flow.
They only work in heated coops if you have temps of freezing and below constantly during the winter. If you use the nipples in a pipe then you get close to the same problem. However if you use a bucket, you can put a heater in it and freezing is almost eliminated. 30 below and a smaller heater does mean you will have some freezing. That however is a very small portion of the window for most.

I live at 6500 feet in the Wyoming mountains. No heat in the coop. I am a pretty good test case for watering chickens in extreme conditions. I have tried them all from heated bases to cups and nipples. Nipples are by far the best option for clean water throughout the year.

 

[trilyn]

Quote:
http://www.qcsupply.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?limit=9&q=nipples

Cheap and very low shipping....nipples are the ONLY way to go, in my opinion...more floor space for brooders and cleaner, drier conditions for coops, etc. Again...this is just my opinion. Everybody has their own thing. My new personal preference is the threaded nipple...just makes it easier when working with harder plastics, ie...5 gallon buckets, etc. Also, no grommet to try and push on the nipple...depending on your hand strength-it can be a pain!

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I agree with you tmaghil that nipples are best if you want to avoid any dirt but that is not a big concern of mine personally. When I started out, I used the big hanging waterer and it fille dup with so much dirt and green growth that it was rediculous.
I put gravel under my waterer so that they dust bath further away from it and that keeps most dirt out since that is the biggest reason dirt gets in there.
As far as freezing, I keep my coop above freezing in the winter so I guess if you let your coop freeze, you would not want to use the cups during the winter.
I agree with trilyn that nipples and nipple cups are great for keeping floor space drier and cleaner as well as maximizing space by not taking up much room. Hanging feeders are intrusive and get pushed around and spill.

 

[jmagill]

The nipples are also cheaper.

 

[gritsar]

We intend (as soon as we get the cow situation under complete control) to use the threaded nipples. Again, this will be for an outside watering system. It will be used pretty much year-round except when during the coldest part of winter. We will have to drain it then and go back to using the pans of water we keep out everywhere.