I would suggest not roasting a chicken at such a low heat for so long. Here is a response to a similar question on another cooking forum:
A few days ago I printed out a recipe
from peacefulnightdove "BEST
Slow-Roasted Chicken". It sounded
wonderful but was to be roasted at 250 F (126 C)
degrees for 5 hours. That sounded like
a low temperature to me, so I emailed
the County Nutritionist and Health
Agent where I lived. Here is her
reply: Good for you JoAnn to be
suspicious! That is definitely outside
the USDA guidelines, and yes bacteria
may well be growing for quite a while
in there. Poultry especially should
not be done at less than 325 degrees.
You could use the same spices and
onions, increase the temp to 325 and
decrease the time. Figure about 20 min
per pound for the time. The safest way
is to use a meat thermometer, final
temp in the thigh should be 180
degrees.
http://community.tasteofhome.com/forums/t/173823.aspx
I would also suggest using a crockpot.
I suspect you may have created a poor-man's slow-cooking environment in there. You had meat, and liquid, and a median temperature of around 200° F, and you probably also got the bird close to "done" during the first broil, before you even left the house. This is obviously easier to do when the meat is covered (was it in a covered roasting pan?) due to the steam, but the oven does provide some insulation to begin with.
Technically when slow-cooking you should theoretically be able to speed up the process by quickly bringing the meat up to just below doneness/moisture-loss temperature (130° F) and then switching to a moisture-preserving slow-cook method like braising. I think that's what you accidentally did, but it's hard to say for because nobody was there for an hour and it sounds like you didn't check the temperature before the second round in the oven.
My guess is that the second roast at 400° F was probably unnecessary, and that the bird was already done, having been cooked in a very slow roast.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't the basting that helped. It seems to be regarded as a myth these days that basting keeps the meat moist, because the baste really doesn't penetrate the skin (and it's not the skin you're worried about). Basting is done to add flavour, not preserve moisture.
The recipe itself also doesn't strike me as anything special in terms of keeping the bird moist, aside from having a relatively short cooking time (as with any grilling/broiling) and letting the meat rest afterward, neither of which really apply in your case. It was probably the slow heat that did it.
Best Answer
Lemon, herbs, onions, and garlic too are all aromatics that infuse into the chicken as it cooks giving it a lovely flavor. It doesn't absorb the flavors enough to call it a lemon chicken, but gives the chicken some flavor depth and acts as an enhancement. Stuffing the chicken helps these flavors to infuse better into the meat than spreading them around. Salt and pepper,too, should go in the cavity.