You're right, they're different industries and different markets, so it's not a perfect parallel, and I completely neglected that fact.

By numbers, in January 2023 of 58m culled, at least 40m were egg-laying hens (the public dataset does not have very standardized distinctions for many flocks, so it looks to be an estimate based on what's known).[NBC 2023-01-18] One explanation for the discrepancy: "Chickens grown for meat can be less prone to infection as they are slaughtered after about six weeks, but bigger, older birds and egg-laying hens [who live longer] have been severely affected. " [Bloomberg 2022-12-19] Also I should have looked up other indicators like turkey prices, which have risen steadily, except their rise begins in Dec 2021 (prior to the first reported outbreak) and continues to soar, overall almost as steeply as the price of eggs, without fluctuation to date.

So it's definitely not as simple as I thought, and I shouldn't have just put it down to some speculative bubble, since nobody else is (although USDA reports don't even seem to address the price crash in January -- I can't imagine what else at least that spike could have been, but I'm no commodities trader.) Good call-out.

[To be clear, this is what I am claiming now: I have a decent suspicion that the peak and crash in egg prices in January was due to a not-insignificant element of speculation some time during the months leading up. My supporting evidence for this, or links to qualified experts (unlike me) who might have a similar suspicion, is nonexistent -- I can't find anything worthwhile. Hopefully as I detailed how the sources I found countered my initial reasoning, something of it might be informative to others interested in this topic.]