Not sure of the ages of your iPads, but if the battery is going dead in a few hours, there is something wrong with it. I have an original iPad and the battery is as good today as it was 4 years ago, when I bought it. I have 3 iPads and no battery issues with any of them...
As far as shutting down...unless you are holding the power button until the red slider appears, you are only putting it to sleep and it continues to monitor email, iMessages, etc. i.e. it still consumes battery power.
If your iPad a year or less old, I would take it back to the Apple Store and let them look at it. If you truly have a defective battery, they may replace your iPad for free. It's a short drive and you might end up with a new iPad out of the deal.
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