--- a/cubicweb/statsd_logger.py	Tue Apr 24 17:16:44 2018 +0200
+++ b/cubicweb/statsd_logger.py	Tue Apr 24 15:21:18 2018 +0200
@@ -88,19 +88,32 @@
     _socket = socket.socket(family, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
 
 
+def teardown():
+    """Unconfigure the statsd endpoint
+
+    This is most likely only useful for unit tests"""
+    global _bucket, _address, _socket
+    _bucket = 'cubicweb'
+    _address = None
+    _socket = None
+
+
 def statsd_c(context, n=1):
     if _address is not None:
-        _socket.sendto('{0}.{1}:{2}|c\n'.format(_bucket, context, n), _address)
+        _socket.sendto('{0}.{1}:{2}|c\n'.format(_bucket, context, n).encode(),
+                       _address)
 
 
 def statsd_g(context, value):
     if _address is not None:
-        _socket.sendto('{0}.{1}:{2}|g\n'.format(_bucket, context, value), _address)
+        _socket.sendto('{0}.{1}:{2}|g\n'.format(_bucket, context, value).encode(),
+                       _address)
 
 
 def statsd_t(context, value):
     if _address is not None:
-        _socket.sendto('{0}.{1}:{2:.4f}|ms\n'.format(_bucket, context, value), _address)
+        _socket.sendto('{0}.{1}:{2:.4f}|ms\n'.format(_bucket, context, value).encode(),
+                       _address)
 
 
 class statsd_timeit(object):
@@ -126,7 +139,7 @@
         finally:
             dt = 1000 * (time.time() - t0)
             msg = '{0}.{1}:{2:.4f}|ms\n{0}.{1}:1|c\n'.format(
-                _bucket, self.__name__, dt)
+                _bucket, self.__name__, dt).encode()
             _socket.sendto(msg, _address)
 
     def __get__(self, obj, objtype):
@@ -147,5 +160,5 @@
         if _address is not None:
             dt = 1000 * (time.time() - t0)
             msg = '{0}.{1}:{2:.4f}|ms\n{0}.{1}:1|c\n'.format(
-                _bucket, ctxmsg, dt)
+                _bucket, ctxmsg, dt).encode()
             _socket.sendto(msg, _address)