Dreadfully poor hens? They're bound to fail (2-6)
I believe the answer is:
no-hopers
'bound to fail' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'dreadfully poor hens?' is the wordplay.
'dreadfully' indicates anagramming the letters (a dreadful spelling).
'poor'+'hens'='poorhens'
'poorhens' is an anagram of 'NO-HOPERS'.
'they're' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for no-hopers that I've seen is " People expected to fail".)