No Spring Chicken
Someone who is past his prime (i.e. is not young anymore) is “no spring chicken.” The phrase dates back to New England chicken farmers and their practice of selling chickens in the spring time. The chickens born in the springtime could be sold for more than the chickens that gone through (and survived) the winter. To encourage buyers, farmers had to sell two old chickens for the price of a new spring chicken. Buyers caught on and tried to negotiate lower prices by pointing out certain birds were “no spring chickens.” The term came to represent anyone past his or her prime.