This study investigated carriage, antibiogram and ?- lactamase production of coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) isolated from chicken in north-eastern Nigeria. A total of 238 samples of cloacae and blood swabs collected from 120 poultry farms in some parts of north-eastern Nigeria were screened for S. aureus by culture, Gram stain, catalase and coagulase tests. All coagulase-positive isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing by the disk diffusion test against thirteen antibiotics. Resistant isolates were profiled for resistance phenotypes, ?-lactamase production, and multiple antibiotic indexes. Staphylococci were isolated from 57 farms, with a prevalence of 47.5%, and S. aureus carriage or colonization rate of 31.5%. Carriage was observed high in broiler, followed by local, and layer chicken, and in male than female chicken; as well as, high in adult than in young chicken. Antibiotic resistance was commonly observed against tetracycline (82.7%), followed by penicillin (68.0%), and ampicillin (57.3%), and the most common and frequently observed resistance phenotypes were TET-PEN-AP (24.2%), TET-PEN-AP-CIP-LZD (18.2%), and TET-PEN-AP-CDA (15.2%). Evaluation of multiple antibiotic resistance showed that 30.3% of the multi-drug resistant (MDR) isolates had multiple antibiotic resistance index < 0.25, and 69.7% had an index > 0.25. Of the MDR isolates, 30.3% were resistant to 3 antibiotics, 27.3% were resistant to 4, and 24.2% were resistant to 6 antibiotics. Of the isolates, 44% were ?- lactamase-producers, with more prevalence in layers (54.2%), than in broilers (42.9%) and local chickens (36.7%). The study revealed an alarming pattern of antibiotic resistance phenotypes and ?-lactamase production in S. aureus isolates from chicken in northeast Nigeria.