Human hen’ artist condemned after hatching nine eggs

‘Human hen’ artist condemned after hatching nine eggs

A French artist who hatched nine eggs after sitting on them for three weeks has been condemned by an animals rights group for depriving the chicks of a mother .
Abraham Poincheval hardly slept in the 23 days he spent nesting inside a glass vitrine in a Paris art museum which he finally left Thursday after all but two of the eggs hatched .
Last month the man dubbed France ’ s most extreme artist made headlines worldwide after spending a week entombed inside an egg - shaped rock at the Palais de Tokyo .
But animal rights group PETA said they took a dim view of the birth of the chicks , the first of which emerged on Tuesday .
“ There is nothing to celebrate in the birth of this chick born alone in a museum , ” the organisation said in an open letter to the artist .
“ Considered merely as a part of an ‘ artistic’ performance , it will never meet its mother .
“ Animals have no place in art , ” it added .
But a spokeswoman for the museum insisted that the chicks , eight of whom are yellow and one brown , “ are doing well and they are going to live in the country” with Poincheval’ s parents .
His father Christian told AFP that he had made them a luxury hen house on his Normandy smallholding where they would live out their natural lives .

– Chicks won ’t be eaten –
Poincheval senior, an inventor best known for his pills which make farts smell of roses , promised the chicks would never end up in the pot .
“ I can assure you that they will never be the centrepiece of a grand feast , ” he added.
A museum spokesman said that although his son was exhausted after the marathon performance during which he never left the vitrine , he was “ very happy . He never hoped that so many of the eggs would hatch . ”
“ It has been really tough for him . He has slept sitting on the eggs. It’ s been a lot harder than being shut inside the rock , ” the spokeswoman had earlier told AFP.
As well as having to spend 23 - and - a -half hours a day sitting on the eggs , Poincheval had to contend with the heat , having to keep the eggs at a minimum of 37 degrees Celsius ( 98 . 6 degrees Fahrenheit ).
The 44 - year - old artist is no stranger to bizarre performances.
He once spent a fortnight inside a stuffed bear eating worms and insects , was buried under a rock for eight days and navigated France ’ s Rhone river inside a giant corked bottle .
His big dream , however , is to walk on the clouds.
“ I have been working on it for five years , but it is not quite there yet , ” he said .
AFP