diff --git a/dusty/constants.py b/dusty/constants.py
index a743d4ff..32c438c8 100644
--- a/dusty/constants.py
+++ b/dusty/constants.py
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 DAEMON_HTTP_BIND_IP = '127.0.0.1'
 DAEMON_HTTP_BIND_PORT = 60912
 
+FILE_HANDLE_LIMIT = 8192
+
 FIRST_RUN_FILE_PATH = '/.dusty_first_time_started'
 CONTAINER_LOG_PATH = "/var/log"
 
diff --git a/dusty/daemon.py b/dusty/daemon.py
index c627a412..c4674b35 100644
--- a/dusty/daemon.py
+++ b/dusty/daemon.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import logging
 import socket
 import threading
+import resource
 # requests refused to play nicely with pyinstaller
 import httplib
 
@@ -64,6 +65,14 @@ def close_client_connection(terminator=SOCKET_TERMINATOR):
         close_socket_logger()
         connection.close()
 
+def _increase_file_handle_limit():
+    """Raise the open file handles permitted by the Dusty daemon process
+    and its child processes. The number we choose here needs to be within
+    the OS X default kernel hard limit, which is 10240."""
+    logging.info('Increasing file handle limit to {}'.format(constants.FILE_HANDLE_LIMIT))
+    resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE,
+                       (constants.FILE_HANDLE_LIMIT, resource.RLIM_INFINITY))
+
 def shut_down_http_server():
     logging.info('Daemon is shutting down HTTP server')
     try:
@@ -137,6 +146,7 @@ def _listen_on_socket(socket_path, suppress_warnings):
 def main():
     args = docopt(__doc__)
     configure_logging()
+    _increase_file_handle_limit()
     init_yaml_constructor()
     preflight_check()
     if args['--preflight-only']: