BBB Etymology - Spring Chicken

People have been raising chickens since sometime around the dawn of civilization. Until recent generations, there were no incubators and few warm hen houses. That meant chicks couldn't be raised during winter. Growers eventually found that chicks born in the spring brought a premium in the summer marketplaces. Sometimes thy tried to deceive customers by offering old birds as though they belonged to the spring crop. Wise buyers would protest that the older birds were "no spring chickens."