diff --git a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakDeploymentDependentResource.java b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakDeploymentDependentResource.java
index 0afaadb7545..1987ee14125 100644
--- a/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakDeploymentDependentResource.java
+++ b/operator/src/main/java/org/keycloak/operator/controllers/KeycloakDeploymentDependentResource.java
@@ -461,13 +461,13 @@ public class KeycloakDeploymentDependentResource extends CRUDKubernetesDependent
         var reconciledContainer = reconciledDeployment.getSpec().getTemplate().getSpec().getContainers().get(0);
 
         if (!previousContainer.getImage().equals(reconciledContainer.getImage())
-                && previousDeployment.getStatus().getReplicas() > 1) {
+                && previousDeployment.getStatus().getReplicas() > 0) {
             // TODO Check if migration is really needed (e.g. based on actual KC version); https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/issues/10441
             Log.info("Detected changed Keycloak image, assuming Keycloak upgrade. Scaling down the deployment to one instance to perform a safe database migration");
             Log.infof("original image: %s; new image: %s", previousContainer.getImage(), reconciledContainer.getImage());
 
             reconciledContainer.setImage(previousContainer.getImage());
-            reconciledDeployment.getSpec().setReplicas(1);
+            reconciledDeployment.getSpec().setReplicas(0);
 
             reconciledDeployment.getMetadata().getAnnotations().put(Constants.KEYCLOAK_MIGRATING_ANNOTATION, Boolean.TRUE.toString());
         }