Aspects include managing distribution of messages from a message queue to a plurality of consumers for processing by maintaining a processing history for the messages in the message queue. The processing history identifies each message in the message queue by a message identifier and consumers having previously failed to successfully process a message in the message queue having the message identifier. Aspects also include considering the suitability of a particular consumer to receive a next message to be processed from the message queue by determining the message identifier of the next message and the consumer identifier of the particular consumer. Aspects further include distributing the next message to be processed to the particular consumer if the consumer identifier of the particular consumer is not present in the checked set of consumer identifiers.