I could be wrong as my experience with chickens is still small, but I get the feeling that chickens, a bit like human, will tend to think that the social situation they have grown up with is the norm.
So if a flock, like my six ex batts, has grown up together with individuals very similar in appearance, of the same age, and only hens, I think they will act very differently than a flock consisting from an early age of mixed breed and size and sex.
I think this also applies to numbers. I agree that two is very different than three, and that two doesn't make a flock. But I have the experience of Théo and Chipie who acted as a couple ever since they arrived in my flock. They were very much rejected at first, which explains why they would stay two together, but now Théo is the rooster of the flock, and Chipie could have chosen to hang out with her chicks instead of terrorizing them. And still (though they spend a lot less time together now than when Chipie had just sent her chicks away) they remain a couple.
I think it could be that a four to five flock is a more usual norm, but I also would believe that many chickens will lead their social life differently. And I don't believe this is only due to them not having the choice because of the setting imposed on them by humans.
In the case of Royalchick's chickens and mine I think loosing several members in such a short time has a strong impact on the dynamics and may result in forgetting some secondary quarrels for safety priorities.
So if a flock, like my six ex batts, has grown up together with individuals very similar in appearance, of the same age, and only hens, I think they will act very differently than a flock consisting from an early age of mixed breed and size and sex.
I think this also applies to numbers. I agree that two is very different than three, and that two doesn't make a flock. But I have the experience of Théo and Chipie who acted as a couple ever since they arrived in my flock. They were very much rejected at first, which explains why they would stay two together, but now Théo is the rooster of the flock, and Chipie could have chosen to hang out with her chicks instead of terrorizing them. And still (though they spend a lot less time together now than when Chipie had just sent her chicks away) they remain a couple.
I think it could be that a four to five flock is a more usual norm, but I also would believe that many chickens will lead their social life differently. And I don't believe this is only due to them not having the choice because of the setting imposed on them by humans.
In the case of Royalchick's chickens and mine I think loosing several members in such a short time has a strong impact on the dynamics and may result in forgetting some secondary quarrels for safety priorities.