diff --git a/lib/feed_handler.rb b/lib/feed_handler.rb
index e166f3a..af1d356 100644
--- a/lib/feed_handler.rb
+++ b/lib/feed_handler.rb
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ class FeedHandler
   end
 
   def enough_time_since_last_failure(container)
-    container.fetched_at < (Time.now - FeedHandler.disabled_period)
+    container.fetched_at.nil? || container.fetched_at < (Time.now - FeedHandler.disabled_period)
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/test/unit/feed_handler_test.rb b/test/unit/feed_handler_test.rb
index 02a1534..0eebf36 100644
--- a/test/unit/feed_handler_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/feed_handler_test.rb
@@ -132,6 +132,14 @@ class FeedHandlerTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
 
       assert container.enabled, 'must reenable container after <disabled_period> (%s)' % container_class
     end
+
+    should "handle a feed that was never fetched successfully (#{container_class})" do
+      container = create(container_class)
+      container.update_errors = FeedHandler.max_errors + 1
+      container.fetched_at = nil
+      handler.expects(:actually_process_container).with(container)
+      handler.process(container)
+    end
   end
 
   should 'not crash even when finish fetch fails' do
--
libgit2 0.21.2