French artist Abraham Poincheval is seen in a vivarium on the first day of his performance in an attempt to incubate chicken eggs, which takes from 21 to 26 days, at the Palais de Tokyo Museum in Paris, France, March 29, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - French artist Abraham Poincheval, who famously spent a week inside a rock and two weeks inside a bear sculpture, has succeeded in hatching chicken eggs after incubating them for some three weeks.

Poincheval embarked on his latest project in late March of imitating a mother hen by incubating some 10 eggs with his own body heat inside a glass vivarium at Paris' Palais de Tokyo contemporary art museum.

At the time, he estimated it would take 21-26 days for the eggs to hatch and the first did so on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the museum said on Thursday nine had hatched and the chicks were on their way to a farm.

For the endeavour, Poincheval sat on a chair, wrapped in an insulating blanket, over a container with the eggs. He could leave his seat for no more than 30 minutes a day for meals.

Earlier this year, the artist spent a week inside a block of stone, while in 2014, he lived in a hollowed-out bear sculpture for two weeks.