diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index a4a9f9c55f2f..8c88c6ec2ca2 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -114,3 +114,8 @@ require (
 	gopkg.in/gemnasium/logrus-airbrake-hook.v2 v2.1.2 // indirect
 	gotest.tools/gotestsum v0.3.3
 )
+
+replace (
+	github.com/ipfs/go-datastore => github.com/ipfs/go-datastore v0.0.2-0.20190323043649-bce485ce18d1
+	github.com/ipfs/go-ds-flatfs => github.com/ipfs/go-ds-flatfs v0.0.2-0.20190316035933-d5e3c1fa14d2
+)
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 0fb3221bc3cf..8286213b99f9 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -121,12 +121,16 @@ github.com/ipfs/go-cidutil v0.0.1 h1:UpDQI2LrihqOGY2mHaMhjrhh1DJ14N/58BQb7lKXvlQ
 github.com/ipfs/go-cidutil v0.0.1/go.mod h1:/0H649ymJksNEZvBAkM18HIctk7tkONH9tspTeLok48=
 github.com/ipfs/go-datastore v0.0.1 h1:AW/KZCScnBWlSb5JbnEnLKFWXL224LBEh/9KXXOrUms=
 github.com/ipfs/go-datastore v0.0.1/go.mod h1:d4KVXhMt913cLBEI/PXAy6ko+W7e9AhyAKBGh803qeE=
+github.com/ipfs/go-datastore v0.0.2-0.20190323043649-bce485ce18d1 h1:kiU8BjUZpF/CnxuIaG5skXOPIhtVtv1Ly1wa9Hldyck=
+github.com/ipfs/go-datastore v0.0.2-0.20190323043649-bce485ce18d1/go.mod h1:d4KVXhMt913cLBEI/PXAy6ko+W7e9AhyAKBGh803qeE=
 github.com/ipfs/go-detect-race v0.0.1 h1:qX/xay2W3E4Q1U7d9lNs1sU9nvguX0a7319XbyQ6cOk=
 github.com/ipfs/go-detect-race v0.0.1/go.mod h1:8BNT7shDZPo99Q74BpGMK+4D8Mn4j46UU0LZ723meps=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ds-badger v0.0.2 h1:7ToQt7QByBhOTuZF2USMv+PGlMcBC7FW7FdgQ4FCsoo=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ds-badger v0.0.2/go.mod h1:Y3QpeSFWQf6MopLTiZD+VT6IC1yZqaGmjvRcKeSGij8=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ds-flatfs v0.0.1 h1:yqWwRYFOGNClUL7V2jvcx4KMMso1Jv+pgQzsv9/gWBs=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ds-flatfs v0.0.1/go.mod h1:YsMGWjUieue+smePAWeH/YhHtlmEMnEGhiwIn6K6rEM=
+github.com/ipfs/go-ds-flatfs v0.0.2-0.20190316035933-d5e3c1fa14d2 h1:C4Q4+j7oruIK2i1qtDfFcW4HRk+APQ3KWoNY69iUrS0=
+github.com/ipfs/go-ds-flatfs v0.0.2-0.20190316035933-d5e3c1fa14d2/go.mod h1:YsMGWjUieue+smePAWeH/YhHtlmEMnEGhiwIn6K6rEM=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ds-leveldb v0.0.1 h1:Z0lsTFciec9qYsyngAw1f/czhRU35qBLR2vhavPFgqA=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ds-leveldb v0.0.1/go.mod h1:feO8V3kubwsEF22n0YRQCffeb79OOYIykR4L04tMOYc=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ds-measure v0.0.1 h1:PrCueug+yZLkDCOthZTXKinuoCal/GvlAT7cNxzr03g=
diff --git a/provider/queue.go b/provider/queue.go
index a3268e109334..918bdcbd7690 100644
--- a/provider/queue.go
+++ b/provider/queue.go
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ package provider
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"math"
+	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ type Queue struct {
 // NewQueue creates a queue for cids
 func NewQueue(ctx context.Context, name string, ds datastore.Datastore) (*Queue, error) {
 	namespaced := namespace.Wrap(ds, datastore.NewKey("/"+name+"/queue/"))
-	head, tail, err := getQueueHeadTail(ctx, name, namespaced)
+	head, tail, err := getQueueHeadTail(ctx, namespaced)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -142,40 +142,52 @@ func (q *Queue) work() {
 }
 
 func (q *Queue) queueKey(id uint64) datastore.Key {
-	return datastore.NewKey(strconv.FormatUint(id, 10))
+	s := fmt.Sprintf("%016X", id)
+	return datastore.NewKey(s)
 }
 
-// crawl over the queue entries to find the head and tail
-func getQueueHeadTail(ctx context.Context, name string, datastore datastore.Datastore) (uint64, uint64, error) {
-	q := query.Query{}
-	results, err := datastore.Query(q)
+func getQueueHeadTail(ctx context.Context, datastore datastore.Datastore) (uint64, uint64, error) {
+	head, err := getQueueHead(datastore)
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, 0, err
 	}
+	tail, err := getQueueTail(datastore)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, 0, err
+	}
+	return head, tail, nil
+}
 
-	var tail uint64
-	var head uint64 = math.MaxUint64
-	for entry := range results.Next() {
-		trimmed := strings.TrimPrefix(entry.Key, "/")
-		id, err := strconv.ParseUint(trimmed, 10, 64)
-		if err != nil {
-			return 0, 0, err
-		}
+func getQueueHead(ds datastore.Datastore) (uint64, error) {
+	return getFirstIDByOrder(ds, query.OrderByKey{})
+}
 
-		if id < head {
-			head = id
-		}
+func getQueueTail(ds datastore.Datastore) (uint64, error) {
+	tail, err := getFirstIDByOrder(ds, query.OrderByKeyDescending{})
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	if tail > 0 {
+		tail++
+	}
+	return tail, nil
+}
 
-		if (id + 1) > tail {
-			tail = (id + 1)
-		}
+func getFirstIDByOrder(ds datastore.Datastore, order query.Order) (uint64, error) {
+	q := query.Query{Orders: []query.Order{order}}
+	results, err := ds.Query(q)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
 	}
-	if err := results.Close(); err != nil {
-		return 0, 0, err
+	defer results.Close()
+	r, ok := results.NextSync()
+	if !ok {
+		return 0, nil
 	}
-	if head == math.MaxUint64 {
-		head = 0
+	trimmed := strings.TrimPrefix(r.Key, "/")
+	id, err := strconv.ParseUint(trimmed, 16, 64)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
 	}
-
-	return head, tail, nil
+	return id, nil
 }
diff --git a/provider/queue_test.go b/provider/queue_test.go
index e1b74878ea51..2857da0a93e4 100644
--- a/provider/queue_test.go
+++ b/provider/queue_test.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 
 func makeCids(n int) []cid.Cid {
 	cids := make([]cid.Cid, 0, n)
-	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+	for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
 		c := blockGenerator.Next().Cid()
 		cids = append(cids, c)
 	}
@@ -129,3 +129,27 @@ func TestInitialization(t *testing.T) {
 
 	assertOrdered(cids[5:], queue, t)
 }
+
+func TestInitializationWithManyCids(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	defer ctx.Done()
+
+	ds := sync.MutexWrap(datastore.NewMapDatastore())
+	queue, err := NewQueue(ctx, "test", ds)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	cids := makeCids(25)
+	for _, c := range cids {
+		queue.Enqueue(c)
+	}
+
+	// make a new queue, same data
+	queue, err = NewQueue(ctx, "test", ds)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	assertOrdered(cids, queue, t)
+}