A total of 27 hens and chicks found dead for unknown causes on Monday in southern Bulgarian province Haskovo have been sent to a local laboratory for bird flu test, the Bulgarian National Radio reported.

The dead chickens, found by peasants who raised poultry in a village named Oriahovo, 40 km from the borders with Turkey and Greece, were soon reported to the local veterinary department, Dzhamil Chitov, the head of the department said.

Under the directions from the authorities, the local veterinary department has blood-tested 220 fowls since mid-October, all of which turned out to be bird flu negative, Chitov confirmed.

He added the authorities have distributed a number of pamphlets concerning the prevention and symptoms of bird flu to people residing in villages along the border.

Since July, Bulgaria has been under the threat of bird flu as the epidemic consecutively broke out in neighboring countries suchas Romania, Turkey and Greece.

The Bulgarian government established a bird flu crisis control command to coordinate the nation's prevention of the epidemic.

To date no bird flu case has been detected in Bulgaria, reports released on Monday by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry confirmed.