diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a1b01de453..c7af140f7d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3655,7 +3655,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio-postgres",
  "tokio-stream",
  "tokio-tar",
- "tokio-timerfd",
  "tokio-util",
  "toml_edit",
  "tracing",
@@ -6136,15 +6135,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "time-core",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "timerfd"
-version = "1.6.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "84e482e368cf7efa2c8b570f476e5b9fd9fd5e9b9219fc567832b05f13511091"
-dependencies = [
- "rustix",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "tiny-keccak"
 version = "2.0.2"
@@ -6329,19 +6319,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "xattr",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "tokio-timerfd"
-version = "0.2.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "87eecdae9a9b793843b1df7a64bc136f203443c1ca9889b3c4a39590afa51094"
-dependencies = [
- "futures-core",
- "libc",
- "slab",
- "timerfd",
- "tokio",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-tungstenite"
 version = "0.21.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 96b56762e0..dbda930535 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -177,7 +177,6 @@ tokio-postgres-rustls = "0.12.0"
 tokio-rustls = { version = "0.26.0", default-features = false, features = ["tls12", "ring"]}
 tokio-stream = "0.1"
 tokio-tar = "0.3"
-tokio-timerfd = "0.2.0"
 tokio-util = { version = "0.7.10", features = ["io", "rt"] }
 toml = "0.8"
 toml_edit = "0.22"
diff --git a/pageserver/Cargo.toml b/pageserver/Cargo.toml
index 135aee6d54..143d8236df 100644
--- a/pageserver/Cargo.toml
+++ b/pageserver/Cargo.toml
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ tokio-postgres.workspace = true
 tokio-stream.workspace = true
 tokio-util.workspace = true
 toml_edit = { workspace = true, features = [ "serde" ] }
-tokio-timerfd.workspace = true
 tracing.workspace = true
 url.workspace = true
 walkdir.workspace = true
diff --git a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
index 0e58997769..3472dda378 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
@@ -316,8 +316,6 @@ struct PageServerHandler {
 
     /// See [`PageServerConf::server_side_batch_timeout`]
     server_side_batch_timeout: Option<Duration>,
-
-    server_side_batch_timer: tokio_timerfd::Delay,
 }
 
 struct Carry {
@@ -587,7 +585,6 @@ impl PageServerHandler {
             timeline_handles: TimelineHandles::new(tenant_manager),
             cancel,
             server_side_batch_timeout,
-            server_side_batch_timer: tokio_timerfd::Delay::new(Instant::now()).unwrap(),
         }
     }
 
@@ -653,12 +650,24 @@ impl PageServerHandler {
                         }
                         Some(batch_timeout) => {
                             // Take into consideration the time the carry spent waiting.
-                            let batch_deadline = carry.started_at + batch_timeout;
-                            self.server_side_batch_timer.reset(batch_deadline);
-                            batching_deadline_storage = Some(&mut self.server_side_batch_timer);
-                            Either::Right(
-                                batching_deadline_storage.as_mut().expect("we just set it"),
-                            )
+                            let batch_timeout =
+                                batch_timeout.saturating_sub(carry.started_at.elapsed());
+                            if batch_timeout.is_zero() {
+                                // the timer doesn't support restarting with zero duration
+                                return Ok(BatchOrEof::Batch(smallvec::smallvec![
+                                    maybe_carry
+                                        .take()
+                                        .expect("we already checked it's Some")
+                                        .msg
+                                ]));
+                            } else {
+                                batching_deadline_storage = Some(Box::pin(async move {
+                                    tokio::time::sleep(batch_timeout).await;
+                                }));
+                                Either::Right(
+                                    batching_deadline_storage.as_mut().expect("we just set it"),
+                                )
+                            }
                         }
                     }
                 }