diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/iterators/ThreadedIterator.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/iterators/ThreadedIterator.java
index 10c74a340..42e52085e 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/iterators/ThreadedIterator.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/iterators/ThreadedIterator.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.iterators;
 
+import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
+
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
@@ -18,11 +20,21 @@ public class ThreadedIterator<T> implements Iterator<T>, Runnable {
     private int nOps = 0;
     private final int printStateFreq = -1;
 
+    protected static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(ThreadedIterator.class);
+
     public void run() {
         try {
             while (it.hasNext()) {
-                queue.put(it.next());
-                printState("addNext");
+                // Spin loop...if queue has remaining capacity, add more elements.
+                // Otherwise, yield to the thread(s) waiting for the data.
+                if(queue.remainingCapacity() > 0 ) {
+                    synchronized(this) {
+                        queue.put(it.next());
+                        printState("addNext");
+                    }
+                }
+                else
+                    Thread.yield();
             }
         } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
             // bail out
@@ -32,7 +44,7 @@ public class ThreadedIterator<T> implements Iterator<T>, Runnable {
 
     public synchronized void printState(final String op) {
         if ( printStateFreq != -1 && nOps++ % printStateFreq == 0 )
-            System.out.printf("  [%s] Queue has %d elements %d ops%n", op, queue.size(), nOps);
+            logger.info(String.format("  [%s] Queue has %d elements %d ops%n", op, queue.size(), nOps));
     }
 
     public ThreadedIterator(Iterator<T> it, int buffSize) {
@@ -41,7 +53,7 @@ public class ThreadedIterator<T> implements Iterator<T>, Runnable {
         new Thread(this).start();
     }
 
-    public boolean hasNext() {
+    public synchronized boolean hasNext() {
         return queue.peek() != null || it.hasNext();
     }
 
@@ -51,7 +63,7 @@ public class ThreadedIterator<T> implements Iterator<T>, Runnable {
             return queue.poll(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
         } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
             // bail out
-            System.out.printf("ThreadedIterator next() timed out...%n");
+            logger.info("ThreadedIterator next() timed out...");
             printState("getNext");
             return null;
         }