Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Which came first—the chicken or the egg? We're not too certain, but one thing we know for sure—no more chickens means no more eggs.
When Jake comes home drunk, hungry, and angry, the first thing that Mrs. Grimes does is kill and cook a chicken for him. Okay, that doesn't sound too bad. There's just one problem, though—once she's run out of chickens, "she wouldn't have any eggs to sell when she went to town" (2.5). This puts Mrs. Grimes in a tough situation—her only property (the chickens) is being destroyed for short-term gain, eliminating their long-term benefit. This is Economics 101, folks.
With this in mind, it's easy to see how this whole chicken situation gets to the yolk of the Grimes' relationship. Jake doesn't care about Mrs. Grimes—he just cares about his own satisfaction. He either doesn't realize—or doesn't care—that he is literally draining Mrs. Grimes of her potential for growth.
Mrs. Grimes has never been able to explore her own womanhood because Jake consumes it. Like her daughter who "died in childhood," Mrs. Grimes' eggs are symbolic of how her hopes for the future are squashed before they can grow to fruition (5.14).