diff --git a/elasticsearch-transport/lib/elasticsearch/transport/client.rb b/elasticsearch-transport/lib/elasticsearch/transport/client.rb
index 0f820d837a..99bff1a76f 100644
--- a/elasticsearch-transport/lib/elasticsearch/transport/client.rb
+++ b/elasticsearch-transport/lib/elasticsearch/transport/client.rb
@@ -143,22 +143,25 @@ def __extract_hosts(hosts_config, options={})
         end
 
         result = hosts.map do |host|
-          case host
-          when String
-            if host =~ /^[a-z]+\:\/\//
-              uri = URI.parse(host)
-              { :scheme => uri.scheme, :user => uri.user, :password => uri.password, :host => uri.host, :path => uri.path, :port => uri.port.to_s }
+          host_parts = case host
+            when String
+              if host =~ /^[a-z]+\:\/\//
+                uri = URI.parse(host)
+                { :scheme => uri.scheme, :user => uri.user, :password => uri.password, :host => uri.host, :path => uri.path, :port => uri.port }
+              else
+                host, port = host.split(':')
+                { :host => host, :port => port }
+              end
+            when URI
+              { :scheme => host.scheme, :user => host.user, :password => host.password, :host => host.host, :path => host.path, :port => host.port }
+            when Hash
+              host
             else
-              host, port = host.split(':')
-              { :host => host, :port => port }
+              raise ArgumentError, "Please pass host as a String, URI or Hash -- #{host.class} given."
             end
-          when URI
-            { :scheme => host.scheme, :user => host.user, :password => host.password, :host => host.host, :path => host.path, :port => host.port.to_s }
-          when Hash
-            host
-          else
-            raise ArgumentError, "Please pass host as a String, URI or Hash -- #{host.class} given."
-          end
+
+          host_parts[:port] = host_parts[:port].to_i unless host_parts[:port].nil?
+          host_parts
         end
 
         result.shuffle! if options[:randomize_hosts]
diff --git a/elasticsearch-transport/test/unit/client_test.rb b/elasticsearch-transport/test/unit/client_test.rb
index c25e7ffea2..74797a20f3 100644
--- a/elasticsearch-transport/test/unit/client_test.rb
+++ b/elasticsearch-transport/test/unit/client_test.rb
@@ -127,6 +127,17 @@ def initialize(*); end
         hosts = @client.__extract_hosts( { :host => 'myhost', :scheme => 'https' } )
         assert_equal 'myhost', hosts[0][:host]
         assert_equal 'https',  hosts[0][:scheme]
+        assert_nil             hosts[0][:port]
+      end
+
+      should "extract from hash with a port passed as a string" do
+        hosts = @client.__extract_hosts( { :host => 'myhost', :scheme => 'https', :port => '443' } )
+        assert_equal 443, hosts[0][:port]
+      end
+
+      should "extract from hash with a port passed as an integer" do
+        hosts = @client.__extract_hosts( { :host => 'myhost', :scheme => 'https', :port => 443 } )
+        assert_equal 443, hosts[0][:port]
       end
 
       should "extract from Hashie::Mash" do
@@ -154,10 +165,10 @@ def initialize(*); end
         assert_equal 2, hosts.size
 
         assert_equal 'host1', hosts[0][:host]
-        assert_equal '1000',  hosts[0][:port]
+        assert_equal 1000,    hosts[0][:port]
 
         assert_equal 'host2', hosts[1][:host]
-        assert_equal '2000',  hosts[1][:port]
+        assert_equal 2000,    hosts[1][:port]
       end
 
       should "extract path" do
@@ -171,7 +182,7 @@ def initialize(*); end
 
         assert_equal 'https',  hosts[0][:scheme]
         assert_equal 'myhost', hosts[0][:host]
-        assert_equal '8080',   hosts[0][:port]
+        assert_equal 8080,     hosts[0][:port]
       end
 
       should "extract credentials" do
@@ -181,14 +192,14 @@ def initialize(*); end
         assert_equal 'USERNAME', hosts[0][:user]
         assert_equal 'PASSWORD', hosts[0][:password]
         assert_equal 'myhost',   hosts[0][:host]
-        assert_equal '8080',     hosts[0][:port]
+        assert_equal 8080,       hosts[0][:port]
       end
 
       should "pass hashes over" do
         hosts = @client.__extract_hosts [{:host => 'myhost', :port => '1000', :foo => 'bar'}]
 
         assert_equal 'myhost', hosts[0][:host]
-        assert_equal '1000',   hosts[0][:port]
+        assert_equal 1000,     hosts[0][:port]
         assert_equal 'bar',    hosts[0][:foo]
       end
 
@@ -200,7 +211,7 @@ def initialize(*); end
         assert_equal 'USERNAME', hosts[0][:user]
         assert_equal 'PASSWORD', hosts[0][:password]
         assert_equal 'myhost',   hosts[0][:host]
-        assert_equal '4430',     hosts[0][:port]
+        assert_equal 4430,       hosts[0][:port]
       end
 
       should "split comma-separated URLs" do