diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index b02a8f7cb..ddc7c2002 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -30002,11 +30002,11 @@ server <peername> [/<path>] [param*]
         server haproxy3 10.2.0.1:1024
 
 shards <shards>
-
   In some configurations, one would like to distribute the stick-table contents
   to some peers in place of sending all the stick-table contents to each peer
-  declared in the "peers" section. In such cases, "shards" specifies the
-  number of peer involved in this stick-table contents distribution.
+  declared in the "peers" section. In such cases, "shards" specifies the number
+  of peer involved in this stick-table contents distribution. It must be an
+  integer value between 1 and 65535.
   See also "shard" server parameter.
 
 table <tablename> type {ip | integer | string [len <length>] | binary [len <length>]}
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index edaaa70e6..80ec5a24b 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -1010,8 +1010,8 @@ int cfg_parse_peers(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int kwm)
 			goto out;
 		}
 
-		if (!curpeers->nb_shards) {
-			ha_alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' : expects a strictly positive integer argument\n",
+		if (!curpeers->nb_shards || curpeers->nb_shards > 65535) {
+			ha_alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' : expects a integer argument between 1 and 65535\n",
 			         file, linenum, args[0]);
 			err_code |= ERR_FATAL;
 			goto out;