diff --git a/zuul_registry/storage.py b/zuul_registry/storage.py
index 1fef65b..3492951 100644
--- a/zuul_registry/storage.py
+++ b/zuul_registry/storage.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # Copyright 2019 Red Hat, Inc.
+# Copyright 2024 Acme Gating, LLC
 #
 # This module is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -184,10 +185,8 @@ class Storage:
 
         upload = self._get_upload(namespace, uuid)
         path = os.path.join(namespace, 'uploads', uuid, str(upload.count + 1))
-        streamer = UploadStreamer()
-        t = threading.Thread(target=self.backend.put_object,
-                             args=(path, streamer, uuid))
-        t.start()
+        streamer = None
+        thread = None
         size = 0
         # This calculates the md5 of just this chunk for internal
         # integrity checking; it is not the overall hash of the layer
@@ -201,14 +200,20 @@ class Storage:
                 d = b''
             if not d:
                 break
+            if streamer is None:
+                streamer = UploadStreamer()
+                thread = threading.Thread(target=self.backend.put_object,
+                                          args=(path, streamer, uuid))
+                thread.start()
             upload.hasher.update(d)
             chunk_hasher.update(d)
             size += len(d)
             streamer.write(d)
-        streamer.write(None)
-        t.join()
-        upload.chunks.append(dict(size=size, md5=chunk_hasher.hexdigest()))
-        self._update_upload(namespace, uuid, upload)
+        if streamer:
+            streamer.write(None)
+            thread.join()
+            upload.chunks.append(dict(size=size, md5=chunk_hasher.hexdigest()))
+            self._update_upload(namespace, uuid, upload)
         return upload.size - size, upload.size
 
     def store_upload(self, namespace, uuid, digest):