Whole chicken in the crockpot is so great. Come home from work and there's magic chicken waiting for you without a hot kitchen. Hey, I live just outside Sacramento, heat is a big deal here in the summer!
*Wash a 3-4 pound roaster and shove either a quartered onion or a lemon that you've punched holes in the peel with a fork into the cavity. Rub with a little salt and pepper. If you're a skinless chicken person, leave it on for cooking and take it off after.
*If you want vegetables with your chicken, wash and cut into large chunks 2 carrots, 2 stalks celery, an onion and 3-4 potatoes. Put them on the bottom of the crockpot.
*If you just want the chicken, make four loose balls (I'd say fist sized, but I have tiny hands) of aluminum foil and put them on the bottom of the crockpot.
*Put the chicken, breast side down, on top of the vegetables/tin foil.
*Add a half cup of liquid - wine, broth, or water.
*Cover and cook 8-10 hours on low, 4-5 hours on high.
Main thing is something to keep the chicken from touching the crock and a bit of extra moisture to keep it from drying out. The chicken will be pale as sin though, not the lovely brown the rotisserie makes though. On the plus side, the meat just falls off the bone so if you're doing chicken with the intent of using the chicken for other recipes, this is THE way to do it. I've done fancier rubs on the chicken, but that's something you can pretty much fiddle with as it suits you.
And, of course, since you'll have a chicken carcass handy, crockpot chicken stock is a no brainer: put the carcass and gizzards in the crockpot, add chunks of carrot, celery, and onion. Toss in pepper corns, thyme sprigs, sage and a bay leaf. DO NOT SALT. Add cold water to top. Put it on low overnight (at least 10 hours). Strain the solids out and chill, skim the fat once it's solidified. Voila, chicken stock better than anything the grocery store will ever sell you. I freeze 4 ounce portions in muffin tins so I have pucks of broth in an easy to use in recipes size.