diff --git a/lib/platform/github/storage.js b/lib/platform/github/storage.js
index 1948a402c2411bfe4c26fdc27e140502bca7c97d..0a9b50b15fca6029493f1a787266544c141b9b1d 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/storage.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/storage.js
@@ -361,6 +361,9 @@ class Storage {
         if (err.statusCode === 404) {
           throw new Error('repository-changed');
         }
+        if (err.statusCode === 409) {
+          throw new Error('empty');
+        }
         throw err;
       }
     }
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/result.js b/lib/workers/repository/result.js
index a0712fb0704121fd9ab36a2a5b9845297e50da2a..b0e29875dd00d8debdb40f6f22f6e49ea2f1988a 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/result.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/result.js
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ function processResult(config, res) {
     'not-found',
     'renamed',
     'uninitiated',
+    'empty',
   ];
   let status;
   // istanbul ignore next