Dreadfully poor hens? They're bound to fail (2-6)
I believe the answer is:
no-hopers
'bound to fail' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'dreadfully poor hens?' is the wordplay.
'dreadfully' indicates an anagram (a dreadful spelling).
'poor'+'hens'='poorhens'
'poorhens' with letters rearranged gives 'NO-HOPERS'.
'they're' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for no-hopers that I've seen is " People expected to fail".)