Bird deaths were reported from Burdwan, Birbhum and Nadia today, barely 24 hours after fresh cases of bird flu were confirmed in two blocks of Murshidabad. Nearly 6,000 chickens have died in four villages of Bhatar block in Burdwan since March 1. Over 2,000 poultry birds have perished in Dubrajpur, Birbhum, and Nadia's Ranaghat. The High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal has not yet confirmed avian influenza in the samples sent from Burdwan and Nadia. Animal resource development officials said tests in their laboratories had shown that the chickens in Bhatar, 170km from Calcutta, had died of Ranikhet disease. "We tested the samples at our facilities in Burdwan and Belgachhia. However, we are awaiting the Bhopal reports,' said Uday Bhanu Ganguly, the animal resource deputy director in Burdwan. Poultry owners in Burd- wan accused officials of keep-ing them in the dark about what actually happened to their chickens. "Our chickens are dying almost everyday but no help is coming,' said Joydeb Ghosh of Bamuniya village, who has lost 250 chickens over the past few days. As many as 1,000 chickens died in Swapan Nohar's farm in Ratanpur today. "They became drowsy and drooped before dying,' he said. The samples sent to Bhopal from Nayamukundapur and Bothra villages in Murshidabad have tested positive for bird flu. Nine hundred chickens had died in these villages under Raghunathgunj block II and Murshidabad-Jiagunj block. Sale and purchase of chickens, ducks and their eggs have been banned in the two blocks. Animal resource development minister Anisur Rahman said culling in Murshidabad would begin tomorrow. The minister said the reason for the fresh outbreak was "incomplete culling' earlier. He had ordered fresh culling in pockets of Murshidabad and Birbhum in the last week of February after a central report said the job was incomplete there. Over nine lakh poultry birds were earlier culled in the three districts, but none of the blocks where bird deaths have been reported this time was hit by the flu then. Sale and purchase of chickens had been banned across the state after the earlier outbreak. Murshidabad district magistrate Subir Bhadra said 40 rapid response teams will start culling 50,000 chickens and ducks in 41 villages and eight wards of the Jangipur municipality tomorrow. The job will be completed in three days.