Can they go without water and food for a day or 2?

They can survive it, but will likely come out of lay for a couple days even after re-feeding commences. I would find a way to provision them with additional water. It would be better yet to have someone stop by and check on birds. What you do not want is the unforeseen making your stay away longer than planned.

In less than an hour I will be showing someone how to care for my birds, dogs, and cats while we are out of town for 36 hours. That person will also be house sitting to keep normal routine up for our critters. That person has done this before.
 
Same here. Will be leaving for a week. I have someone living at my house for the week. She is trained in animal care. Loves my pets. She will be caring for the animals for the week. They will be provided fresh food and water daily. She will collect eggs and they are free to her family for the week. There is no day that they are Not watched. My dog will be fed and happy each day with much love. She will put garbage out when due and take mail in. Make sure home and animals are safe. She will have emergency contact numbers in case of problems. All biosecurity measures will be followed.
 
I've left my chickens. I'm good about that. But they certainly need adequate food and water. Water especially!

It's not a difficult thing to do. There are 7 gallon gravity waterers with troughs. I use a 5 gallon one that would supply my chickens for a week. Even so I have a second nipple waterer of the same size and a couple 1 liter cup waterers around the perimeter. If you've a bigger flock you can have any number of them. Likewise, feeders can hold 20# of feed.

Prepare adequately. Be ready to clean a mess out of the coop. Have a good, concern-free 2 or 3 days. Longer than that, you need to have someone to check on your birds, muck out and remove eggs. Surely there's a friend who gets your excess eggs, or another local owner who would help you out, or a 4-H kid who would respond to a Craig's List or Nextdoor.org appeal. The point is to have stress-free fun and not be cruel or irresponsible.
 
Same here. Will be leaving for a week. I have someone living at my house for the week. She is trained in animal care. Loves my pets. She will be caring for the animals for the week. They will be provided fresh food and water daily. She will collect eggs and they are free to her family for the week. There is no day that they are Not watched. My dog will be fed and happy each day with much love. She will put garbage out when due and take mail in. Make sure home and animals are safe. She will have emergency contact numbers in case of problems. All biosecurity measures will be followed.
I had a fellow who would take care of my birds when I went away for any extended length of time but sadly the fellow passed away from a heart attack at 40 years old so now I don't go anywhere. He took good care of the birds. I do have auto waters at every coop and 40# hanging feeders in all of the coops so he didn't have to worry so much about feeding and watering.
 
Even IF they survive & don't get dehydrated, just one day without adequate water WILL cost you weeks without eggs. As already stated that is too easily avoided to take the risks IMHO
 
We had a hurricane last year and my main concern was water. We were without power for a good week. Luckily my sister didn't loose power so we borrowed her generator but it couldn't handle everything so we had to time share it. We are rural with septic and well. This trash can probably holds about 50 gallons of water. I attached it to a spigot and let the gravity feed the water to the waterers on the coops. It worked and every couple of days I would run the well to fill it.
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We had a hurricane last year and my main concern was water. We were without power for a good week. Luckily my sister didn't loose power so we borrowed her generator but it couldn't handle everything so we had to time share it. We are rural with septic and well. This trash can probably holds about 50 gallons of water. I attached it to a spigot and let the gravity feed the water to the waterers on the coops. It worked and every couple of days I would run the well to fill it.
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Great use of resources! Dat’s so smart :thumbsup
 
All good responses. Some may survive but chickens should never go 24 hours without water.
If you value your birds, get more food and water containers. Make sure the water is high enough that they can't fill it with bedding, etc..
Even with multiple water founts, improperly placed founts can be dry in hours.
In some locales, persons can be charged for neglect.

I used to check on a friend's broilers from time to time at an organic farm. It was hot summertime and the caretakers told me she had been there an hour before to feed and water. She didn't take care that the founts were level and they were already empty.
 
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I'm going to be out of town for a long weekend and I'm pretty sure I'll have enough feed and water for at least 2, 3 days in their coop. But the last day in case they finished their feed and water already, will my hens be ok or survive without anything?

I would definitely make sure they have more than enough food and water for those days. Better safe than sorry.
 

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