diff --git a/elasticsearch/helpers/__init__.py b/elasticsearch/helpers/__init__.py
index 41639bbe..a59437da 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/helpers/__init__.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/helpers/__init__.py
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ def _process_bulk_chunk(client, bulk_actions, bulk_data, raise_on_exception=True
 
     try:
         # send the actual request
-        resp = client.bulk('\n'.join(map(client.transport.serializer.dumps, bulk_actions)) + '\n', **kwargs)
+        resp = client.bulk('\n'.join(bulk_actions) + '\n', **kwargs)
     except TransportError as e:
         # default behavior - just propagate exception
         if raise_on_exception:
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ def _process_bulk_chunk(client, bulk_actions, bulk_data, raise_on_exception=True
 
         for data in bulk_data:
             # collect all the information about failed actions
-            op_type, action = data[0].popitem()
+            op_type, action = data[0].copy().popitem()
             info = {"error": err_message, "status": e.status_code, "exception": e}
             if op_type != 'delete':
                 info['data'] = data[1]
@@ -199,7 +199,9 @@ def streaming_bulk(client, actions, chunk_size=500, max_chunk_bytes=100 * 1024 *
                         if max_retries \
                                 and info['status'] == 429 \
                                 and (attempt+1) <= max_retries:
-                            to_retry.extend(data)
+                            # _process_bulk_chunk expects strings so we need to
+                            # re-serialize the data
+                            to_retry.extend(map(client.transport.serializer.dumps, data))
                             to_retry_data.append(data)
                         else:
                             yield ok, {action: info}
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_helpers.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_helpers.py
index df6f8099..be80e721 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_helpers.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_server/test_helpers.py
@@ -5,16 +5,17 @@ from ..test_cases import SkipTest
 
 
 class FailingBulkClient(object):
-    def __init__(self, client, fail_at=1):
+    def __init__(self, client, fail_at=(2, ), fail_with=TransportError(599, "Error!", {})):
         self.client = client
-        self._called = -1
+        self._called = 0
         self._fail_at = fail_at
         self.transport = client.transport
+        self._fail_with = fail_with
 
     def bulk(self, *args, **kwargs):
         self._called += 1
-        if self._called == self._fail_at:
-            raise TransportError(599, "Error!", {})
+        if self._called in self._fail_at:
+            raise self._fail_with
         return  self.client.bulk(*args, **kwargs)
 
 class TestStreamingBulk(ElasticsearchTestCase):
@@ -87,7 +88,6 @@ class TestStreamingBulk(ElasticsearchTestCase):
                     '_index': 'i',
                     '_type': 't',
                     '_id': 45,
-
                     'data': {'f': 'v'},
                     'error': "TransportError(599, 'Error!')",
                     'status': 599
@@ -96,6 +96,46 @@ class TestStreamingBulk(ElasticsearchTestCase):
             results[1][1]
         )
 
+    def test_rejected_documents_are_retried(self):
+        failing_client = FailingBulkClient(self.client, fail_with=TransportError(429, 'Rejected!', {}))
+        docs = [
+            {'_index': 'i', '_type': 't', '_id': 47, 'f': 'v'},
+            {'_index': 'i', '_type': 't', '_id': 45, 'f': 'v'},
+            {'_index': 'i', '_type': 't', '_id': 42, 'f': 'v'},
+        ]
+        results = list(helpers.streaming_bulk(failing_client, docs,
+                                              raise_on_exception=False,
+                                              raise_on_error=False,
+                                              chunk_size=1, max_retries=1,
+                                              initial_backoff=0))
+        self.assertEquals(3, len(results))
+        self.assertEquals([True, True, True], [r[0] for r in results])
+        self.client.indices.refresh(index='i')
+        res = self.client.search(index='i')
+        self.assertEquals(3, res['hits']['total'])
+        self.assertEquals(4, failing_client._called)
+
+    def test_rejected_documents_are_retried_at_most_max_retries_times(self):
+        failing_client = FailingBulkClient(self.client, fail_at=(1, 2, ),
+                                           fail_with=TransportError(429, 'Rejected!', {}))
+
+        docs = [
+            {'_index': 'i', '_type': 't', '_id': 47, 'f': 'v'},
+            {'_index': 'i', '_type': 't', '_id': 45, 'f': 'v'},
+            {'_index': 'i', '_type': 't', '_id': 42, 'f': 'v'},
+        ]
+        results = list(helpers.streaming_bulk(failing_client, docs,
+                                              raise_on_exception=False,
+                                              raise_on_error=False,
+                                              chunk_size=1, max_retries=1,
+                                              initial_backoff=0))
+        self.assertEquals(3, len(results))
+        self.assertEquals([False, True, True], [r[0] for r in results])
+        self.client.indices.refresh(index='i')
+        res = self.client.search(index='i')
+        self.assertEquals(2, res['hits']['total'])
+        self.assertEquals(4, failing_client._called)
+
 
 class TestBulk(ElasticsearchTestCase):
     def test_bulk_works_with_single_item(self):