# Pritchard nipples (I hate leaky nipples)



## ACountryMomma (Aug 10, 2008)

Please - what am I doing wrong. I have a set or pritchard nipples and love how easy they are to get on a bottle and that they don't pull off. BUT is there some way to get the darn things to not leak all over me and the kids and the floor and my shoes... 

I tighten them normally and they leak. I crank them down so tight I have a hard time getting them off - still they leak. Is there a special bottle I should try to use? I generally have diet pepsi bottles and dasani water bottles on hand.

Do all nipples leak all over? Can someone recommend a better nipple that I should have on hand? 

I look forward to any help you can give!:shocked:


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## shiandpete.1 (Aug 13, 2008)

I have a bucket with them and they leak just terrible. I can't stand them either! Have you tried the black lamb nipples? They still leak but only if the bottle is tipped upside down. I even called premier and they were no help.


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## yarrow (Apr 27, 2004)

the only plastic bottle I've found that doesn't leak with the pritchard is a mt. dew bottle.. not sure why? but we drink a lot of dew, before kidding season..:teehee:

susie, mo. ozarks


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

I have no idea why your bottles are leaking, maybe the metal ball in the vent hole is missing. We also use plastic pop bottles with our nipples, and they leak very little.And I like using these much better than the black rubber nipples. Thanks Marc


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## farmmom (Jan 4, 2009)

The pritchard nipples I used to use leaked like crazy. I now use the black rubber lamb nipples with IBC bottles.


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

Take the colored plastic ring off of the soda bottle, the plastic ring that is left over when you twist the cap open. Then screw the Prichard nipple on the bottle. It shouldn't leak.


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## ACountryMomma (Aug 10, 2008)

I'll give anything a try! Thank you all for your help


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Pepsi bottles work, too, or they did when they were 20 oz and fat. I don't know if the new ones do.

Yes, you have to take the colored ring off.

I like Pritchard nipples best because they vent.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Use Lambar nipples. Even my tiny less than 3 pound minimancha triplet girls are on the lambar. I start the kids with a lambar nipple on a soda bottle for colostrum and then milk and then they go on the lambar with the same nipples. If you vet a lambar nipple by poking a needle (kind use for giving shots) with a pretty large hole in the needle, into the lambar nipple, right where the collar meets the nipple part, it will vent it so you don't have collapsing bottles as kids nurse. I hate prichard nipples. Kids collapse the nipple and drink slower, they leak, there is really no way of getting the hole exactly right in the top even using the X pattern they used to send with the nipples for directions, it's either too big or too small, and they rip eaisly, so you are switching the kids to another nipple anyway! Vicki


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians said:


> If you vet a lambar nipple by poking a needle (kind use for giving shots) with a pretty large hole in the needle, into the lambar nipple, right where the collar meets the nipple part, it will vent it so you don't have collapsing bottles as kids nurse.


Duh! Good idea! We had one bottle lamb last year and I tossed the pritchard nipples because I hated them so much so I didn't have any when the bottle lamb came along. I just stuck the lambar nipple on a bottle and dealt with the collapsing bottle. I'll be sure to vent one for the kids this year!


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I second the lambar nipples! I went through so many different types of nipples before finding the lambar and I've never gone back. I keep a pritchard on hand just in case of picky premies, but haven't used one in years.


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## westbrook (May 10, 2002)

for those that don't have access to the Lambar (great way to feed kids) and only have one or 2 kids to bottle feed...

go buy a regular baby bottle and nipple. the kids don't care if the nipple is long or short.. as long as it delivers milk!

When I have a kid to bottle feed, I just use a baby bottle.. it works fine.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

The lambar nipples fit on any plastic pop bottle.


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

I had a kid pull the red part of a Prichard nipple off once and I thought he just lost it in the sand. I looked everywhere. Well, he was a butcher kid, a milk-fed cabrito. At 8 weeks, when I cut him open, he had the red nipple in his rumen! So beware. I have no prichards this year, will be putting them on the lambar nipples so they will go on my lambar. However, I do intend to have prichards in my emergency kit, so need them still.


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## Goat Servant (Oct 26, 2007)

Ive never had success with the Pritchards either. Before I found my childrens glass baby bottles I put the black lamb nipples on beer bottles. 
After that couldnt be around the goats with a cold one.:buds:


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I've used some Pritchard's that leaked really bad, so I stuck a toothpick in the vent hole and broke it off.


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## LomahAcres (Jan 21, 2007)

I third the lambar nipples!  Never thought about poking a hole in it, going to have to try that now! I just take a rubber band cut in half and drape it over the bottle opening before putting the nipple on, so it allows a little side hole for vent. I never liked the plastic bottles though, they didn't clean up nice enough for me so I use the old glass soda bottles, the lambar nipples pop right on, and I can scrub them real well.


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## Cat (Jun 19, 2004)

I have used a latex nipple sold by Caprine Supply since I began raising orphan lambs shortly after HS. They were a bizarre rust color at one point but now they're grey. I still use glass bottles, though, and prefer this set up. Never had a lamb or kid that couldn't suck with it like the black latex - never have liked those. I've used the Pritchard nipples at my friends place feeding lambs and while they do work, I've found that they just don't last and the nipple rips from the base after awhile. To wash glass bottles, pour in a quarter cup of rice, a bit of hot water and soap of your choice & shake. Rinse and you're good to go!


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## Feral Nature (Feb 21, 2007)

Cat said:


> To wash glass bottles, pour in a quarter cup of rice, a bit of hot water and soap of your choice & shake. Rinse and you're good to go!


cool tip


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## Cat (Jun 19, 2004)

Thanks! It doesn't actually take a quarter cup of rice. lol That was just the smallest / most convenient measuring unit that popped into mind at the time. I use a funnel and pour in just enough to cover the bottom in a layer about 1/4" thick and that'll do the trick.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

Not sure what kind ours are, but they are black and thick rubber and hard to get on and off bottles, but they NEVER LEAK.


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