diff --git a/pkg/ingester/ingester.go b/pkg/ingester/ingester.go
index adf0cd7b332f5..17089efbbf63b 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/ingester.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/ingester.go
@@ -611,6 +611,10 @@ func (i *Ingester) starting(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 		i.setPrepareShutdown()
 	}
 
+	// start our flush loop: this needs to start before the partition-reader in order for chunks to be shipped in the case of Kafka catching up.
+	i.loopDone.Add(1)
+	go i.loop()
+
 	// When kafka ingestion is enabled, we have to make sure that reader catches up replaying the partition
 	// BEFORE the ingester ring lifecycler is started, because once the ingester ring lifecycler will start
 	// it will switch the ingester state in the ring to ACTIVE.
@@ -646,9 +650,7 @@ func (i *Ingester) starting(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to start partition ring lifecycler: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
-	// start our loop
-	i.loopDone.Add(1)
-	go i.loop()
+
 	return nil
 }