Aweful Just Aweful......My sympathy for you & your family. We had the same thing here last week. I thought the same, broken neck in the night, come to find out we had a black snake in the barn. Was killing broodies for their eggs. Caught it in the act & did it in. It would wrap around them, break the hens neck, then eat the eggs. Got 4 hens here in two weeks. Never had a snake do that before, usually they try to eat them & leave slim on them. You might want to look around the coop for a snake. Again so sorry for your loss.