Putting chicks together? Need Advice...Please!!

[waitin on eggs]

Okay here goes, I have 3 RIR's that are 1 yr old and well established in their coop.
I have 7 5 wk olds-2 Buff orps,3 Copper Marans, 1 Dominique and 1 light brahma
I have 5 silkies 2.5 wks old.

the 5 wk olds are in a temporary coop outside tonight for the first night, silkies are still in brooder. Hubby is building a larger coop to hold all my ladies (which wont be done for at least a month or so.)

Originally I thought of putting all the "big girls" together in "new coop" and keeping the 5 silkies seperated in our exsisting coop as it is smaller.

Can they all live together or do silkies need different things? If they can all live together when and how do I do this? Should I put the silkies in with the 5 wk olds when they are done in the brooder or keep them seperate and put them all together at one time, I just want them to be happy and cause the least amount of stress possible !

The 5 wk olds are outside today for first time enclosed in a run with an attached makeshift playhouse coop. My 3 RIR's who free range were very curious and they spent most of the day peeking in the fence to watch the little ones "looked at them like they wanted to play" they were showing off and making dust bowls all around the fence and flapping their wings and chatting it up. lol

 

[Celtic Chick]

Do not put any young ones in with your one year olds. Not yet, please.
Edit: It depends on what you want to do. Do you want them all together in one coop, even though you'll have 2? Since you will have 2 coops, I would lean toward the "big girls" & "little girls" having their own coops. The only reason I say this is because I have banties & standards mixed & it was fine for almost 2 years. But now the banties are showing their age, and the younger, big ones have been terrorizing them. BUT, I have a huge age gap with my chickens: my banties are 9, and the standards are only 2. Since yours are much closer in age, you might not have this problem.
The silkies do not need anything different or special from the rest, and they could all go into the same coop together. There are a ton of people on this site that have all their chickens together. So it is really up to you on what you would like to do. If things do not work well with them all together, at least you have the option of separating them permanantly. Or if they do all fit in well together, you could have the smaller coop for emergencies (quarantine zone).

Introducing chickens is a time consuming process, just so you know.
Never just throw new chickens into an existing flock. The results can be catastrophic. You need to have an introduction period of at least a few days to a week, preferrably with the new ones fenced off so the "old" ones can't tear them to pieces.
If you have chicks, the general rule for adding new birds to an already existing flock is to wait until the newcomers are roughly the same size as the established birds. That way, they can at least defend themselves. Otherwise, they will be seriously injured or even killed.
When introducing adult or adult-sized birds to an existing flock, a 30 day quarantine is highly recommended. Disease is easily carried from flock to flock, even on your shoes. I usually quarantine the new birds for at least 30 days, well away from the main flock, then put them in a pen near the main flock for a few weeks. You can then either divide your run into 2 separate sections or put the newcomers into a cage inside the run for a few days to let them get used to each other. Then I let them out to free range together for a few days/week, eventually they will fight it out and the new ones will blend in with the original flock.
Unacquainted chickens are going to fight, and unfortunately there is not much that can be done about it. It is just in their nature. But I would suggest that when you do finally put them together for the first time that you have the garden hose ready just in case anyone gets a little too out of hand. One quick shot of water should do it.

It would be nice if chickens could all just get along. Unfortunately, that was not programmed into their DNA. Chickens are cruel when it comes to outsiders until the pecking order becomes established. Once that is out of the way, peace should once again return to the kingdom.