I would love to have a couple of hens in my backyard. I have a pond made of concrete. The sides of it slope fairly sharply down to the water, and I'm concerned that a chicken would slip on this 1-foot slope and eventually drown in the pond. Is this a possibility, or are chickens smarter than this? The concrete is not smooth.

chickens are not very smart i had one drown in a kiddie pool it fell in if there was soem way thet you could maybe put something in pond uncase it does fall in big rocks or milk crates or something?

Our chickens were only free for a few weeks a few years back before the hawks attacked. They're confined now. When they were free, they never even went near to my ponds! Chickens have their moments of both genius and stupidity but they tend towards the latter. It's doubtful that a chicken would drown in your pond but you should have an easy way for animals to get out, not just for chickens, but for pets and wild animals that might also fall in to the pond. I don't imagine that chickens can swim with any adeptness. While my chickens are good flyers, if you fence in the pond, it's not as likely they would end up there.

Oh man, we've got hawks, too. I think I'll spare some heartache and just not have them. About 20 years back, we had a mini flashflood in another backyard and 2 of the cutest cochin/bantams in the world drowned. Still a memory I prefer not to dwell on... :(
My pond does have a set of stairs coming up out of it, so I think any animals -- higher up on the food chain, shall we say? -- would find them alright.

Thanks for your replies!