diff --git a/beaver/config.py b/beaver/config.py
index 13d4e8a5..00181a28 100644
--- a/beaver/config.py
+++ b/beaver/config.py
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ def __init__(self, args, logger=None):
             'rabbitmq_ha_queue': os.environ.get('RABBITMQ_HA_QUEUE', '0'),
             'rabbitmq_key': os.environ.get('RABBITMQ_KEY', 'logstash-key'),
             'rabbitmq_exchange': os.environ.get('RABBITMQ_EXCHANGE', 'logstash-exchange'),
+            'rabbitmq_timeout': '1',
             'rabbitmq_delivery_mode': 1,
             'redis_url': os.environ.get('REDIS_URL', 'redis://localhost:6379/0'),
             'redis_namespace': os.environ.get('REDIS_NAMESPACE', 'logstash:beaver'),
@@ -312,6 +313,7 @@ def _main_parser(config):
                 'max_queue_size',
                 'queue_timeout',
                 'rabbitmq_port',
+                'rabbitmq_timeout',
                 'rabbitmq_delivery_mode',
                 'respawn_delay',
                 'subprocess_poll_sleep',
diff --git a/beaver/transports/rabbitmq_transport.py b/beaver/transports/rabbitmq_transport.py
index 20ff4af6..589b5ff6 100644
--- a/beaver/transports/rabbitmq_transport.py
+++ b/beaver/transports/rabbitmq_transport.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ def __init__(self, beaver_config, logger=None):
         config_to_store = [
             'key', 'exchange', 'username', 'password', 'host', 'port', 'vhost',
             'queue', 'queue_durable', 'ha_queue', 'exchange_type', 'exchange_durable',
-            'ssl', 'ssl_key', 'ssl_cert', 'ssl_cacert', 'delivery_mode'
+            'ssl', 'ssl_key', 'ssl_cert', 'ssl_cacert', 'timeout', 'delivery_mode'
         ]
 
         for key in config_to_store:
@@ -139,7 +139,8 @@ def _connect(self):
             port=self._rabbitmq_config['port'],
             ssl=self._rabbitmq_config['ssl'],
             ssl_options=ssl_options,
-            virtual_host=self._rabbitmq_config['vhost']
+            virtual_host=self._rabbitmq_config['vhost'],
+            socket_timeout=self._rabbitmq_config['timeout']
         )
         Thread(target=self._connection_start).start()
 
diff --git a/docs/user/usage.rst b/docs/user/usage.rst
index 6603c869..c5e9768a 100644
--- a/docs/user/usage.rst
+++ b/docs/user/usage.rst
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ Beaver can optionally get data from a ``configfile`` using the ``-c`` flag. This
 * rabbitmq_exchange_durable: Default ``0``.
 * rabbitmq_key: Default ``logstash-key``.
 * rabbitmq_exchange: Default ``logstash-exchange``.
+* rabbitmq_timeout: Default ``1``. The timeout in seconds for the connection to the RabbitMQ broker
 * rabbitmq_delivery_mode: Default ``1``. Message deliveryMode. 1: non persistent 2: persistent
 * redis_url: Default ``redis://localhost:6379/0``. Comma separated redis URLs
 * redis_namespace: Default ``logstash:beaver``. Redis key namespace