Chick sudden death?

[Aithon]

One of my 8wk old chicks suddenly passed and I have no idea what caused it. He was completely fine just 2hrs ago, he was running around, and eating/drinking. Then I go out just now and find him under the coop dead, the tiniest amount of blood near his comb (but no injuries found), and his entire neck/head is wet. He was nowhere near any water, it's on the opposite side of the pen from where I found him, so I have no idea how he could be wet only from his neck up. No evidence of any kind of predator/fight either. Haven't seen any signs of coccidiosis or any other illness either.
All the other chicks and older chickens are acting normal. The 8wk chicks are in a separate pen inside my rooster run, and my 3 roosters act like mother hens towards them so it's very unlikely they did anything to cause this (and again, no signs of injury at all besides the tiny watered down drop of blood by his comb).

Does anyone have an idea of what might've happened? I've already lost 2 other chicks to freak accidents, so I'd really like to prevent any more deaths. Honestly considering bringing everyone inside for the summer in a bubble wrapped room if anything else happens.

 

[Eggcessive]

Very sorry for your loss. I am not sure what might have caused the death, but have heard of a snake or weasel smothering a chicken by swallowing. Is there any blood inside his beak or throat? Are there any marks on his vent or anywhere else? Most state vets will do a necropsy to help find a diagnosis if you keep the body in a plastic bag in a refrigerator or in a cooler on ice. Do not freeze it. Here is a list of state vets to contact:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...L5h4Xt137GBu32pWJZSRUY5DYhQyVrd4ODmF-Ab8otocc

 

[BoundlessLove]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[fowltemptress]

With his head and neck wet I'd think it was being swallowed by a snake when the snake was startled mid meal and regurgitated the chick before finishing in order to escape. I've accidentally interrupted snakes like this in the past; it's actually rather rough on them.

 

[Aithon]

Very sorry for your loss. I am not sure what might have caused the death, but have heard of a snake or weasel smothering a chicken. Is there any blood inside his beak or throat? Are there any marks on his vent or anywhere else? Most state vets will do a necropsy to help find a diagnosis if you keep the body in a plastic bag in a refrigerator or in a cooler on ice. Do not freeze it. Here is a list of state vets to contact:
https://www.metzerfarms.com/poultry...L5h4Xt137GBu32pWJZSRUY5DYhQyVrd4ODmF-Ab8otocc

No blood/marks anywhere besides the one spot
it might be a bit late to chill him, it looked like he'd been dead for at least 30min-an hour when I found him, he was already stiff and sitting in the upper 80s/low 90s heat. I have him in a box ready to bury currently.

With his head and neck wet I'd think it was being swallowed by a snake when the snake was startled mid meal and regurgitated the chick before finishing in order to escape. I've accidentally interrupted snakes like this in the past; it's actually rather rough on them.

Yeah, that was my first thought, but it happened in such little amount of time so I'm not sure how likely it is. I don't think there's anything that would've scared a snake so bad in a pen full of bantam chicks that it would rather regurgitate than finish a meal that'll keep it happy for a couple weeks no problem.
The older chickens can't get in there, and the chicks would've been too scared and unable to do anything. If it was scared by me coming in, I probably would've seen it escape since under the coop was the first place I looked when I didn't see the chick since it's their favorite spot. I also didn't see any tracks
It's definitely still possible, I just don't know how likely it is since it happened within 2hrs max