diff --git a/walkeeper/src/send_wal.rs b/walkeeper/src/send_wal.rs
index 0ee6a7829c..1884c1aab4 100644
--- a/walkeeper/src/send_wal.rs
+++ b/walkeeper/src/send_wal.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ use crate::pq_protocol::{
 };
 use crate::replication::ReplicationConn;
 use crate::timeline::{Timeline, TimelineTools};
-use crate::wal_service::Connection;
 use crate::WalAcceptorConf;
 use anyhow::{bail, Result};
 use bytes::BytesMut;
@@ -33,15 +32,17 @@ pub struct SendWalConn {
 
 impl SendWalConn {
     /// Create a new `SendWal`, consuming the `Connection`.
-    pub fn new(conn: Connection) -> Self {
-        Self {
-            timeline: conn.timeline,
-            stream_in: conn.stream_in,
-            stream_out: conn.stream_out,
-            peer_addr: conn.peer_addr,
-            conf: conn.conf,
+    pub fn new(socket: TcpStream, conf: WalAcceptorConf) -> Result<Self> {
+        let peer_addr = socket.peer_addr()?;
+        let conn = SendWalConn {
+            timeline: None,
+            stream_in: BufReader::new(socket.try_clone()?),
+            stream_out: socket,
+            peer_addr,
+            conf,
             appname: None,
-        }
+        };
+        Ok(conn)
     }
 
     ///
diff --git a/walkeeper/src/wal_service.rs b/walkeeper/src/wal_service.rs
index 02f7702b2c..eb005059f7 100644
--- a/walkeeper/src/wal_service.rs
+++ b/walkeeper/src/wal_service.rs
@@ -3,14 +3,13 @@
 //!   receive WAL from wal_proposer and send it to WAL receivers
 //!
 use anyhow::{bail, Result};
-use byteorder::{BigEndian, ByteOrder, ReadBytesExt};
 use fs2::FileExt;
 use log::*;
 use postgres::{Client, NoTls};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::cmp::{max, min};
 use std::fs::{self, File, OpenOptions};
-use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, Read, Seek, SeekFrom, Write};
+use std::io::{BufReader, Read, Seek, SeekFrom, Write};
 use std::net::{SocketAddr, TcpListener, TcpStream};
 use std::str;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -230,7 +229,7 @@ impl SharedState {
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug)]
-pub struct Connection {
+pub struct ReceiveWalConn {
     pub timeline: Option<Arc<Timeline>>,
     /// Postgres connection, buffered input
     pub stream_in: BufReader<TcpStream>,
@@ -294,19 +293,38 @@ pub fn thread_main(conf: WalAcceptorConf) -> Result<()> {
 
 /// This is run by main_loop, inside a background thread.
 ///
-/// This is only a separate function to make a convenient place to collect
-/// all errors for logging. Our caller can log errors in a single place.
-fn handle_socket(socket: TcpStream, conf: WalAcceptorConf) -> Result<()> {
+fn handle_socket(mut socket: TcpStream, conf: WalAcceptorConf) -> Result<()> {
     socket.set_nodelay(true)?;
-    let conn = Connection::new(socket, conf)?;
-    conn.run()?;
+
+    // Peek at the incoming data to see what protocol is being sent.
+    let peeked = peek_u32(&mut socket)?;
+    if peeked == 0 {
+        // Consume the 4 bytes we peeked at. This protocol begins after them.
+        socket.read_exact(&mut [0u8; 4])?;
+        ReceiveWalConn::new(socket, conf)?.run()?; // internal protocol between wal_proposer and wal_acceptor
+    } else {
+        SendWalConn::new(socket, conf)?.run()?; // libpq replication protocol between wal_acceptor and replicas/pagers
+    }
     Ok(())
 }
 
-impl Connection {
-    pub fn new(socket: TcpStream, conf: WalAcceptorConf) -> Result<Connection> {
+/// Fetch the first 4 bytes from the network (big endian), without consuming them.
+///
+/// This is used to help determine what protocol the peer is using.
+fn peek_u32(stream: &mut TcpStream) -> Result<u32> {
+    let mut buf = [0u8; 4];
+    loop {
+        let num_bytes = stream.peek(&mut buf)?;
+        if num_bytes == 4 {
+            return Ok(u32::from_be_bytes(buf));
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl ReceiveWalConn {
+    pub fn new(socket: TcpStream, conf: WalAcceptorConf) -> Result<ReceiveWalConn> {
         let peer_addr = socket.peer_addr()?;
-        let conn = Connection {
+        let conn = ReceiveWalConn {
             timeline: None,
             stream_in: BufReader::new(socket.try_clone()?),
             stream_out: socket,
@@ -316,29 +334,6 @@ impl Connection {
         Ok(conn)
     }
 
-    fn run(mut self) -> Result<()> {
-        // Peek at the first 4 bytes of the incoming data, to determine which
-        // protocol is being spoken. fill_buf` does not consume any of the
-        // bytes we peek at; they are left in the BufReader's internal buffer
-        // for the next reader.
-        let peek_buf = self.stream_in.fill_buf()?;
-        if peek_buf.len() < 4 {
-            // Empty peek_buf means the socket was closed.
-            // Less than 4 bytes doesn't seem likely unless the sender is malicious.
-            // read_u32 would panic on any of these, so just return an error.
-            bail!("fill_buf EOF or underrun");
-        }
-        let startup_pkg_len = BigEndian::read_u32(peek_buf);
-        if startup_pkg_len == 0 {
-            // Consume the 4 bytes we peeked at. This protocol begins after them.
-            self.stream_in.read_u32::<BigEndian>()?;
-            self.receive_wal()?; // internal protocol between wal_proposer and wal_acceptor
-        } else {
-            SendWalConn::new(self).run()?; // libpq replication protocol between wal_acceptor and replicas/pagers
-        }
-        Ok(())
-    }
-
     fn read_req<T: LeSer>(&mut self) -> Result<T> {
         // As the trait bound implies, this always encodes little-endian.
         Ok(T::des_from(&mut self.stream_in)?)
@@ -371,7 +366,7 @@ impl Connection {
     }
 
     /// Receive WAL from wal_proposer
-    fn receive_wal(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
+    fn run(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
         // Receive information about server
         let server_info = self.read_req::<ServerInfo>()?;
         info!(