diff --git a/cmd/refinery/main.go b/cmd/refinery/main.go
index 0f33a28d5b..24b45b3da6 100644
--- a/cmd/refinery/main.go
+++ b/cmd/refinery/main.go
@@ -298,6 +298,14 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
+	// Now that all components are started, we can notify our peers that we are ready
+	// to receive data.
+	err = peers.Ready()
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("failed to start peer management: %v\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
 	// these have to be done after the injection (of metrics)
 	// these are the metrics that libhoney will emit; we preregister them so that they always appear
 	libhoneyMetricsName := map[string]string{
diff --git a/internal/peer/file.go b/internal/peer/file.go
index 06452bd3c2..b995183152 100644
--- a/internal/peer/file.go
+++ b/internal/peer/file.go
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ func (p *FilePeers) Start() (err error) {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (p *FilePeers) Ready() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (p *FilePeers) publicAddr() (string, error) {
 	addr := p.Cfg.GetPeerListenAddr()
 	host, port, err := net.SplitHostPort(addr)
diff --git a/internal/peer/mock.go b/internal/peer/mock.go
index 9cf42abdd1..ff9e3c7462 100644
--- a/internal/peer/mock.go
+++ b/internal/peer/mock.go
@@ -26,4 +26,8 @@ func (p *MockPeers) Start() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (p *MockPeers) Ready() error {
+	return nil
+}
+
 func (p *MockPeers) stop() {}
diff --git a/internal/peer/peers.go b/internal/peer/peers.go
index 0eadee5293..86d365fabf 100644
--- a/internal/peer/peers.go
+++ b/internal/peer/peers.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ type Peers interface {
 	GetPeers() ([]string, error)
 	GetInstanceID() (string, error)
 	RegisterUpdatedPeersCallback(callback func())
+	Ready() error
 	// make it injectable
 	startstop.Starter
 }
diff --git a/internal/peer/pubsub_redis.go b/internal/peer/pubsub_redis.go
index 0441a1040e..9287883cb1 100644
--- a/internal/peer/pubsub_redis.go
+++ b/internal/peer/pubsub_redis.go
@@ -144,7 +144,15 @@ func (p *RedisPubsubPeers) Start() error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	p.peers.Add(myaddr)
+	return nil
+}
 
+func (p *RedisPubsubPeers) Ready() error {
+	myaddr, err := p.publicAddr()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	// periodically refresh our presence in the list of peers, and update peers as they come in
 	go func() {
 		// we want our refresh cache interval to vary from peer to peer so they
@@ -164,6 +172,7 @@ func (p *RedisPubsubPeers) Start() error {
 				p.stop()
 				return
 			case <-ticker.Chan():
+
 				// publish our presence periodically
 				ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), p.Config.GetPeerTimeout())
 				err := p.PubSub.Publish(ctx, "peers", newPeerCommand(Register, myaddr).marshal())