diff --git a/pykafka/balancedconsumer.py b/pykafka/balancedconsumer.py
index b96938e28..1fee4f1e4 100644
--- a/pykafka/balancedconsumer.py
+++ b/pykafka/balancedconsumer.py
@@ -414,7 +414,8 @@ def _get_internal_consumer(self, partitions=None, start=True):
             auto_start=start,
             compacted_topic=self._is_compacted_topic,
             generation_id=self._generation_id,
-            consumer_id=self._consumer_id
+            consumer_id=self._consumer_id,
+            parent_consumer=self
         )
 
     def _decide_partitions(self, participants, consumer_id=None):
diff --git a/pykafka/managedbalancedconsumer.py b/pykafka/managedbalancedconsumer.py
index bc4ce8a07..d8984cbff 100644
--- a/pykafka/managedbalancedconsumer.py
+++ b/pykafka/managedbalancedconsumer.py
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@
 from .balancedconsumer import BalancedConsumer
 from .common import OffsetType
 from .exceptions import (IllegalGeneration, RebalanceInProgress, NotCoordinatorForGroup,
-                         GroupCoordinatorNotAvailable, ERROR_CODES, GroupLoadInProgress)
+                         GroupCoordinatorNotAvailable, ERROR_CODES, GroupLoadInProgress,
+                         UnknownMemberId)
 from .protocol import MemberAssignment
 from .utils.compat import iterkeys
 from .utils.error_handlers import valid_int
@@ -199,6 +200,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         self._consumer_id = b''
         self._worker_trace_logged = False
         self._worker_exception = None
+        self._should_rebalance = False
         self._default_error_handlers = self._build_default_error_handlers()
 
         if auto_start is True:
@@ -213,18 +215,21 @@ def fetcher():
                 try:
                     if not self._running:
                         break
-
-                    log.info("Sending heartbeat from consumer '%s'", self._consumer_id)
-                    res = self._group_coordinator.heartbeat(self._connection_id,
-                                                            self._consumer_group,
-                                                            self._generation_id,
-                                                            self._consumer_id)
-                    if res.error_code != 0:
-                        log.info("Error code %d encountered on heartbeat.",
-                                 res.error_code)
-                        self._handle_error(res.error_code)
+                    if self._should_rebalance:
                         self._rebalance()
-
+                        self._should_rebalance = False
+                    else:
+                        log.info("Sending heartbeat from consumer '%s'",
+                                 self._consumer_id)
+                        res = self._group_coordinator.heartbeat(self._connection_id,
+                                                                self._consumer_group,
+                                                                self._generation_id,
+                                                                self._consumer_id)
+                        if res.error_code != 0:
+                            log.info("Error code %d encountered on heartbeat.",
+                                     res.error_code)
+                            self._handle_error(res.error_code)
+                            self._rebalance()
                     self._cluster.handler.sleep(self._heartbeat_interval_ms / 1000)
                 except ReferenceError:
                     break
@@ -273,6 +278,7 @@ def _update_member_assignment(self):
         but uses the Kafka 0.9 Group Membership API instead of ZooKeeper to manage
         group state
         """
+        log.info("Member assignment update triggered")
         for i in range(self._rebalance_max_retries):
             try:
                 members = self._join_group()
@@ -314,6 +320,7 @@ def _handle_NotCoordinatorForGroup():
         return {
             GroupCoordinatorNotAvailable.ERROR_CODE: _handle_GroupCoordinatorNotAvailable,
             NotCoordinatorForGroup.ERROR_CODE: _handle_NotCoordinatorForGroup,
+            UnknownMemberId.ERROR_CODE: None,
             GroupLoadInProgress.ERROR_CODE: None,
             RebalanceInProgress.ERROR_CODE: None,
             IllegalGeneration.ERROR_CODE: None
@@ -350,6 +357,7 @@ def _join_group(self):
             self._cluster.handler.sleep(i * 2)
         self._generation_id = join_result.generation_id
         self._consumer_id = join_result.member_id
+        log.info("Successfully joined consumer group '%s'", self._consumer_group)
         return join_result.members
 
     def _sync_group(self, group_assignments):
diff --git a/pykafka/simpleconsumer.py b/pykafka/simpleconsumer.py
index 0e3ee795d..b056530ee 100644
--- a/pykafka/simpleconsumer.py
+++ b/pykafka/simpleconsumer.py
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ def __init__(self,
                  reset_offset_on_start=False,
                  compacted_topic=False,
                  generation_id=-1,
-                 consumer_id=b''):
+                 consumer_id=b'',
+                 parent_consumer=None):
         """Create a SimpleConsumer.
 
         Settings and default values are taken from the Scala
@@ -172,6 +173,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         self._generation_id = valid_int(generation_id, allow_zero=True,
                                         allow_negative=True)
         self._consumer_id = consumer_id
+        self._parent_consumer = parent_consumer
 
         # incremented for any message arrival from any partition
         # the initial value is 0 (no messages waiting)
@@ -233,6 +235,8 @@ def _update(self):
             self._cluster.update()
             self._setup_partitions_by_leader()
             self._discover_group_coordinator()
+            if self._parent_consumer is not None:
+                self._parent_consumer._should_rebalance = True
 
     def start(self):
         """Begin communicating with Kafka, including setting up worker threads
@@ -286,6 +290,7 @@ def _handle_GroupLoadInProgress(parts):
 
         def _handle_IllegalGeneration(parts):
             log.info("Continuing in response to IllegalGeneration")
+            self._update()
 
         def _handle_UnknownMemberId(parts):
             log.info("Continuing in response to UnknownMemberId")