diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 56dda2e..985dc71 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -149,6 +149,8 @@ If a message is discarded entirely because it does not pass your `shouldRetry` l
 
 If the queue is reclaiming events from an abandonded queue, and sees duplicate entries, we will keep the first, and discard the rest, emitting a `duplication` event for each.
 
+If a message is discarded because the queue exceeds `maxItems`, the queue will emit an `overflow` event.
+
 ### `processed`
 
 ```javascript
@@ -171,6 +173,13 @@ queue.on('discard', function(item, attempts) {
 ```javascript
 queue.on('duplication', function(item, attempts) {
   console.error('discarding message %O due to duplicate entries', item, attempts);
+```
+
+### `overflow`
+
+```javascript
+queue.on('overflow', function(item, attempts) {
+  console.error('discarding message %O after %d attempts due to queue overflow', item, attempts);
 })
 ```
 
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 34220e8..373edf4 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -174,8 +174,18 @@ Queue.prototype.requeue = function(item, attemptNumber, error, id) {
 
 Queue.prototype._enqueue = function(entry) {
   var queue = this._store.get(this.keys.QUEUE) || [];
-  queue = queue.slice(-(this.maxItems - 1));
-  queue.push(entry);
+
+  // We should remove events from the end of the array as these are generally the oldest events that have been retried.
+
+  // If greater than the length of the array, start will be set to the length of the array.
+  var sliceStart = this.maxItems - 1;
+  // If deleteCount is omitted, or if its value is equal to or larger than array.length - start,
+  // then all the elements from sliceStart to the end of the array will be deleted.
+  var sliceDeleteCount = queue.length - sliceStart
+  // More docs https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/splice
+  var removedEntrys = queue.splice(sliceStart, sliceDeleteCount, entry);
+  // We can add the new event at the end of the array since we sort the array on the next line
+  // We keep the deleted events so we can emit events for them below.
   queue = queue.sort(function(a,b) {
     return a.time - b.time;
   });
@@ -185,6 +195,11 @@ Queue.prototype._enqueue = function(entry) {
   if (this._running) {
     this._processHead();
   }
+  if (removedEntrys.length > 0) {
+    for (var i = 0; i < removedEntrys.length; i++) {
+      this.emit('overflow', removedEntrys[i].item, removedEntrys[i].attemptNumber);
+    }
+  }
 };
 
 Queue.prototype._processHead = function() {
diff --git a/test/index.test.js b/test/index.test.js
index d19ca88..6c259d7 100644
--- a/test/index.test.js
+++ b/test/index.test.js
@@ -552,7 +552,11 @@ describe('Queue', function() {
 
 describe('events', function() {
   var queue;
+  var clock;
+
   beforeEach(function() {
+    clock = lolex.createClock(0);
+    Schedule.setClock(clock);
     queue = new Queue('events', function(_, cb) {
       cb();
     });
@@ -560,6 +564,7 @@ describe('events', function() {
 
   afterEach(function() {
     queue.stop();
+    Schedule.resetClock();
   });
 
   it('should emit processed with response, and item', function(done) {
@@ -605,6 +610,30 @@ describe('events', function() {
     });
     queue.start();
     queue.addItem({ a: 'b' });
+    clock.runAll();
+  });
+
+  it('should emit overflow if the adding a message exceeds queue maxItems', function(done) {
+    var firstEvent = { a: 'b' };
+    var otherEvents = { c: 'd' };
+
+    queue.fn = function(item, cb) {
+      cb(new Error('no'));
+    };
+
+    queue.maxItems = 5;
+    queue.on('overflow', function(item, attempts) {
+      assert.equal(item.a, firstEvent.a);
+      assert.equal(attempts, 0);
+      done();
+    });
+    queue.addItem(firstEvent);
+    clock.tick(10);
+    queue.addItem(otherEvents);
+    queue.addItem(otherEvents);
+    queue.addItem(otherEvents);
+    queue.addItem(otherEvents);
+    queue.addItem(otherEvents);
   });
 });