Honey for pollen allergy

gordysgirl

gordysgirl

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Dec 8, 2004
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Several people have suggested feeding locally produced honey to my horse to help with his head shaking. Although not confirmed by vet I am pretty sure it is down to pollen as only done at certain times of year (pollen times) & is always worse on high pollen count days.
Also when should I start feeding it & how much?
 
I don't know about horses, but locally produced honey definitely helps some forms of hayfever in people.

I would think I would start immediately, treat it as any other supplement and use maybe a table spoon per feed, depending on the sugar content? Do they add sugar to honey? :confused: I've no idea, but someone must have a better knowledge of honey than I do!

I found this http://petcaretips.net/horse.html which has several interesting ideas about the various cookie ingredients mentioned on it.
 
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Yes! Start as soon as possible and make sure that it is as local as possible. Speak to your local Beekeepers Society to chat to one of their beekeepers to be able to buy it in bulk (and therefore cheaper!). I'd say start with a small amount-say a dessertspoonful and build it up to see how he goes. It will take several months to kick in normally but is brilliant stuff. Oh and no they don't add sugar to honey but it is pure natural sugar :D. Very good for wounds and burns too. Can you tell I'm a beekeper???!
 
Thanks guys - we stock honey in our shop which is producded by bees in the village horse & myself live in so can't get any more local than that! Will take one home with me & get it started!
 
This is a really interesting thread for me - my horse is a head-shaker in the pollen season (no problem at all in the colder, wetter months!) and the honey suggestion is a real surprise, but as she is intolerent to any kind of "sweetners", molasses, for example, and even Danilon, which really seemed to fiz her up so that I had to go back to Equipalazone, would honey have the same effect? I noted that honey doesn't have "sugar" in it in the accepted sense.

I was using Zephyr until they split it into 2 - one for pollen and one for dust, and they come in smaller pots, and are dearer!

Anyway, the Zephyr did seem to help a little bit, and I have just started her on PoleneX to see if that does the job, or is a waste of money?

It's such a misery for our horses when they are affected by pollen/dust, so if honey does help, that would be fantastic!

Roseanne xxx



Roseanne xxxx
 
honey

I remember an old country remedy for hayfever. It was
honey mixed in apple-cider vinegar- and more- the wax
from the comb was chewed for five minutes to draw out
the properties which was said to be even more potent.
I'm sure a horse would enjoy chewing on a piece of honey-
flavoured comb- for as long as it lasts. Incidentally, you
can buy apple cider vinegar with honey mixed in- the trade
name is "honegar", it's very easy to find in health stores -
I'm sure that with a little chunk of local
comb would be of help. There is something beneficial about
local produce:)
 
Honey is remarkable isn't it?

Old pony I broke was a head shaker (pollen related) and he was given a desert sized spoon a day of local honey in his feed. Took a couple of weeks at least to see any effect but he is fine now.

Also, when Cheyenne cut his eyelid open we were told by vet to leave it open and slap Manuka honey on the cut and it knitted and healed so quickly - Cheyenne hated his eyes being touched so wouldn't stand for vet to sew it :)
 
Roseanne- It's difficult to say whether she would react to it or not. Best thing is to try it and see. Theoretically it shouldn't as it's more easily processed by the body than molasses or sugar and is more slow release. Worth a go at least!
 
Thanks Fanshaw - will definitely try it. Incidentally, I use Manuka honey for myself, in my tea, as it's supposed to be one of the best, and doesn't seem to be as sweet as other brands.

Roseanne xxx
 
Fanshawe said:
Yes! Start as soon as possible and make sure that it is as local as possible. Speak to your local Beekeepers Society to chat to one of their beekeepers to be able to buy it in bulk (and therefore cheaper!). I'd say start with a small amount-say a dessertspoonful and build it up to see how he goes. It will take several months to kick in normally but is brilliant stuff. Oh and no they don't add sugar to honey but it is pure natural sugar :D. Very good for wounds and burns too. Can you tell I'm a beekeper???!
Click to expand...

Hi fanshawe.
When I was studying horticulture and learning about pollination we were told that bees could not be relyed upon to fly further than a mile.
( this was the exact wording and did make me giggle )
is that true ? have always wondered how they know :D
but that does mean that for the honey to work as an allergy cure you would have to source very local honey.
 
Good point. Bees will travel as far as they have to! Experiments show (marking the bees then moving the hives a certain distance away from favourite crops and seeing if any get there) that they will happily travel up to 7 miles for favourite foods (rapeseed being one of them and one which causes a lot of hayfever!). Generally it is 2-3 miles. However you would only need local (as in within say 10 miles) as if a plant is about within that distance of the hive then it is likely that it is also about within the distance of the sufferer as climate, types of flowers/crops etc should be similar. The combinations of pollens would be the same at the same time and the prevalence of certain crops/flowers would also be the same within a 'local' area. Hence why honey from Scotland is wonderful and good for you but simply wouldn't be made up with the same types of pollen as local Devon honey.

It's not about getting the exact mix it's about getting roughly the same on a small scale over a period of time so that the body gets used to the pollens that are about. I think of it as pollen immunisation! :)

As for bees being reliable, hmmmm maybe I should try some Parelli on them! Think it would work? :D
 
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