What is meant by spring chicken, and why?

A spring chicken is a young bird bred for the table. Earlier, chicks would not survive the cold winter months, so a chicken in spring was prized for its flavour. New England chicken farmers discovered that chickens born in spring fetched a better price than the old ones who had weathered the winters. When farmers tried selling the older ones as new spring-born ones, the smarter village folk complained that a tough fowl was ‘no spring chicken’, thus triggering the negative usage of the term, which refers to women past their days of youth and beauty.