diff --git a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_agents.clj b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_agents.clj
index 31c80351..0370e4e2 100644
--- a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_agents.clj
+++ b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_agents.clj
@@ -70,9 +70,10 @@
 
 (schema/defn ^:always-validate
   prime-pool!
-  "Sequentially fill the pool with new JRubyInstances.  NOTE: this
-  function should never be called except by the modify-instance-agent
-  to create a pool's initial jruby instances."
+  "Fill the pool with new JRubyInstances.  Instantiates the first JRuby (Puppet
+  will sometimes alter the filesystem on first instantiation) and the remaining
+  instances in parallel.  NOTE: this function should never be called except by
+  the modify-instance-agent to create a pool's initial jruby instances."
   [{:keys [config] :as pool-context} :- jruby-schemas/PoolContext]
   (log/debug (format "%s\n%s"
                      (i18n/trs "Initializing JRubyInstances with the following settings:")
@@ -80,15 +81,18 @@
   (let [pool (jruby-internal/get-pool pool-context)
         creation-service (jruby-internal/get-creation-service pool-context)
         total (.remainingCapacity pool)
-        ids (->> total range (map inc))
+        [first-id & ids] (->> total range (map inc))
         add-instance* (fn [id]
                           (log/debug (i18n/trs "Priming JRubyInstance {0} of {1}"
                                                id count))
                           (add-instance pool-context id)
                           (log/info (i18n/trs "Finished creating JRubyInstance {0} of {1}"
                                               id count)))
+        initial-task (fn [] (add-instance* first-id))
         tasks (for [id ids] (fn [] (add-instance* id)))]
-    (execute-tasks! tasks creation-service)))
+    (execute-tasks! [initial-task] creation-service)
+    (when (seq ids)
+      (execute-tasks! tasks creation-service))))
 
 (schema/defn ^:always-validate
   flush-instance!
@@ -179,9 +183,13 @@
                   (throw (IllegalStateException.
                           (i18n/trs "There was a problem creating a JRubyInstance for the pool.")
                           e)))))
-        cleanup-and-refill-tasks (for [[old-instance new-id] (zipmap old-instances new-instance-ids)]
+        [[first-old-inst first-new-id] & remaining] (zipmap old-instances new-instance-ids)
+        first-task [(fn [] (cleanup-and-refill-instance first-old-inst first-new-id))]
+        remaining-tasks (for [[old-instance new-id] remaining]
                                    (fn [] (cleanup-and-refill-instance old-instance new-id)))]
-    (execute-tasks! cleanup-and-refill-tasks creation-service))
+    (execute-tasks! first-task creation-service)
+    (when remaining-tasks
+      (execute-tasks! remaining-tasks creation-service)))
   (if refill?
     (log/info (i18n/trs "Finished draining and refilling pool."))
     (log/info (i18n/trs "Finished draining pool."))))
diff --git a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_internal.clj b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_internal.clj
index 6eba33e1..4a8d9e21 100644
--- a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_internal.clj
+++ b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/impl/jruby_internal.clj
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@
   [config :- jruby-schemas/JRubyConfig]
   (let [multithreaded (:multithreaded config)
         size (:max-active-instances config)
-        creation-concurrency (get config :instance-creation-concurrency 4)
+        creation-concurrency (:instance-creation-concurrency config)
         creation-service (Executors/newFixedThreadPool creation-concurrency)]
     (if multithreaded
       {:pool (instantiate-reference-pool size)
diff --git a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_core.clj b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_core.clj
index 4ee88b80..b32378b6 100644
--- a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_core.clj
+++ b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_core.clj
@@ -174,6 +174,7 @@
       (update-in [:environment-vars] #(or % {}))
       (update-in [:lifecycle] initialize-lifecycle-fns)
       (update-in [:multithreaded] #(if (nil? %) false %))
+      (update-in [:instance-creation-concurrency] #(if (nil? %) 3 %))
       jruby-internal/initialize-gem-path))
 
 (schema/defn register-event-handler
diff --git a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_schemas.clj b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_schemas.clj
index 4aab587f..812eeffa 100644
--- a/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_schemas.clj
+++ b/src/clj/puppetlabs/services/jruby_pool_manager/jruby_schemas.clj
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
    :profiling-mode SupportedJRubyProfilingModes
    :profiler-output-file schema/Str
    :multithreaded schema/Bool
-   (schema/optional-key :instance-creation-concurrency) schema/Int})
+   :instance-creation-concurrency schema/Int})
 
 (def JRubyPoolAgent
   "An agent configured for use in managing JRuby pools"