diff --git a/crawler.go b/crawler.go
index 70bbd8f..d4e22a8 100644
--- a/crawler.go
+++ b/crawler.go
@@ -182,6 +182,12 @@ func (c *Crawler) StartFeedCheckLoop() {
 			return
 		}
 
+		// Only fetch more work when the channel has space
+		if len(workChan) > fetchSize/2 {
+			time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+			continue
+		}
+
 		feeds, err := c.GetFeedsDueForCheck(fetchSize)
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Printf("Error fetching feeds: %v\n", err)