The pair were robbed of brood frames which are located in the bottom boxes of a beehives whice house the queen, where she lays eggs, and the worker bees.

"It was done at night time, no ordinary person could do this," Mr Skinner said.

Mr Skinner said any local apiary could have been targeted, so he wants to warn others to be on alert.

Mr Skinner said the frames that were left have notifiable signs of AFB, an American foulbrood, a fatal bacterial disease of larval honeybees.

"If a hive gets the disease I will have to terminate the entire hive," Mr Skinner said.

This means the business will not only suffer an immediate financial downfall, but the flow-on effects that could still come could be even greater.

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"This season has already been hard enough for beekeepers because of the imported honey driving prices down, so this is just another kick in the guts," Mr Skinner said.

"To deal with this, it is ongoing, I'm going to have to keep inspecting the hives into spring and into next season because the disease could pop up over the next 12 to 24 months from now."

Mr Skinner said just one load of bees costs around $45,000

"I'm just going to have to grin and bear it and ride it out because someone else thinks they can help themselves to my bees," he said.

"There are some bees still there but if they get AFB they will be destroyed.

"The future loss is going to be huge."

Wagga Police Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Spliet confirmed a report had been made and police are investigating the matter.

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