diff --git a/pkgs/development/ocaml-modules/earlybird/default.nix b/pkgs/development/ocaml-modules/earlybird/default.nix
index 1a98c748e45..decbb411767 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/ocaml-modules/earlybird/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/ocaml-modules/earlybird/default.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-{ lib, fetchurl, buildDunePackage, angstrom, angstrom-lwt-unix,
+{ lib, fetchurl, ocaml, buildDunePackage, angstrom, angstrom-lwt-unix,
   batteries, cmdliner, lwt_ppx, ocaml_lwt, ppx_deriving_yojson,
   ppx_tools_versioned, yojson }:
 
+if lib.versionAtLeast ocaml.version "4.08"
+then throw "earlybird is not available for OCaml ${ocaml.version}"
+else
+
 buildDunePackage rec {
   pname = "earlybird";
   version = "0.1.5";