diff --git a/consumer.go b/consumer.go
index 285ce779..6a4d75cf 100644
--- a/consumer.go
+++ b/consumer.go
@@ -955,16 +955,22 @@ func (r *Consumer) redistributeRDY() {
 		return
 	}
 
-	numConns := int32(len(r.conns()))
+	// if an external heuristic set needRDYRedistributed we want to wait
+	// until we can actually redistribute to proceed
+	conns := r.conns()
+	if len(conns) == 0 {
+		return
+	}
+
 	maxInFlight := r.getMaxInFlight()
-	if numConns > maxInFlight {
+	if len(conns) > int(maxInFlight) {
 		r.log(LogLevelDebug, "redistributing RDY state (%d conns > %d max_in_flight)",
-			numConns, maxInFlight)
+			len(conns), maxInFlight)
 		atomic.StoreInt32(&r.needRDYRedistributed, 1)
 	}
 
-	if r.inBackoff() && numConns > 1 {
-		r.log(LogLevelDebug, "redistributing RDY state (in backoff and %d conns > 1)", numConns)
+	if r.inBackoff() && len(conns) > 1 {
+		r.log(LogLevelDebug, "redistributing RDY state (in backoff and %d conns > 1)", len(conns))
 		atomic.StoreInt32(&r.needRDYRedistributed, 1)
 	}
 
@@ -972,7 +978,6 @@ func (r *Consumer) redistributeRDY() {
 		return
 	}
 
-	conns := r.conns()
 	possibleConns := make([]*Conn, 0, len(conns))
 	for _, c := range conns {
 		lastMsgDuration := time.Now().Sub(c.LastMessageTime())