diff --git a/lib/hutch/broker.rb b/lib/hutch/broker.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/hutch/broker.rb
+++ b/lib/hutch/broker.rb
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ module Hutch
 
     def work_pool_threads
       # TODO: fix bunny so we don't need to do this
-      @channel.work_pool.instance_variable_get(:@threads)
+      @channel.work_pool.instance_variable_get(:@threads) || []
     end
 
     def generate_id
diff --git a/lib/hutch/worker.rb b/lib/hutch/worker.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/hutch/worker.rb
+++ b/lib/hutch/worker.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ module Hutch
 
     def initialize(broker, consumers)
       @broker = broker
-      raise WorkerSetupError.new('no consumers loaded') if consumers.empty?
+      logger.warn %q(no consumer loaded, are you sure there's no configuration issue?)  if consumers.empty?
       @consumers = consumers
     end
#<I> no exception raised when no consumer, warning logged