Situation:

• Two kittens (originally three in litter, one died recently) are extremely aggressive around food and in pursuit of food. Their behavior includes slashing, biting, growling, and hissing at anything that gets within approximately 4 feet of them while they are eating. They aggressively try to steal food directly from people's hands while they are trying to eat it. One of them recently slashed the other's eye to the point where fluid started oozing out after it tried eating with it.
• We have a lot of cats (15+) living around our farmhouse (rural midwest USA). Many have also displayed aggression towards other cats when feeding, swatting and hissing occasionally.
• During the times we let the kittens in the house and they are so frantic, there is still food in the bowls we put outside, and they are clearly willing to eat that kind of food inside (it's the same food they're so defensive about). I know that at least one of the kittens has eaten from those bowls before. I do not know how much they have been eating from it recently.
• The kittens are both at least a month old, likely older. They are roughly the size that they can be comfortably held within two hands. I believe they have stopped nursing recently.
• It is not practical for us to feed all of the cats separately.

Question(s):

• Is it possible / likely that this behavior is the product of a couple generations of inbreeding? Or is it more likely that this behavior is due to them being denied access to food by the other cats when we aren't looking?
• If the underlying cause of the behavior is not a lack of food, is there a way for it to be corrected? I have friends and family that are interested in taking care of these two kittens. If the behavior persists as they grow up they will become a genuine threat to safety.
• If the underlying cause of the behavior is a lack of food (due to it being denied), is there a practical way to resolve it with rather limited manpower?