Hi Connie,
I am sorry for the loss of your colony of honey bees. Our bees live their lives in stressful environments so it is not surprising when one dies; distressing, yes, but not surprising.

If you were comfortable opening your colony for an inspection in December, you must live someplace much warmer than where I am located in northern Oregon. Where I am it is winter and nobody is spraying anything. Wherever you are located that might be a different story.

Without actually submitting the dead bees to a testing laboratory, we cannot determine definitely why they died. If there are any dead bees left, you might consider doing just that using either your state's bee inspector or department of ag, or the Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory, in Maryland.

Before I get into answering your questions, I want to let you know about a very helpful on-line tool for beekeepers called, "The Bee MD". You can enter information into a diagnosis key of what you observe in a colony and the program sorts through all the possibilities and narrows down to what might be happening. It is a powerful resource.

1. Yes, the bees might have picked up a pesticide either from nectar or from pollen. With your remaining colony, you might consider feeding them both pollen and syrup for a week or so to reduce the possibility that they might find the same problematic food source.

2.Yes, the honey should be fine because it takes time for nectar to be made into honey. If the bees consumed a poison, it would still be in the nectar or pollen form rather than capped honey and bee bread.

3. I would toss the frames with brood and nectar. That way you eliminate any potential problems. Start with some new frames and foundation. The capped honey you can extract and reuse the frames and drawn comb.

4. If the bees got into a toxic pesticide, that will break down rapidly. I would scrape the inside of the box, and leave it in the sun for a week or two. However, there is nothing wrong with spraying it bleach water after scrapping and then leaving it in the sun.

5. The laws governing pesticides are quite strict. Each pesticide label has the information governing the use of that product. Some have restrictions as to when and how they can be applied. However, there is the human element of applicators either not knowing or not caring about what they spray. Again you could contact your state department of ag or bee inspector, to report a bee kill.

6. Since bees range so far in their foraging, it is next to impossible to determine where they might have picked up whatever they found.

7. Unless you have your colonies were insured to cover such damage, you have no financial recourse. However, keep your remaining colony alive then split it to prevent swarming and you are back to having 2 colonies.

The Honey Bee Health Coalition has a good publication, "Best Management Practices a Guide for Hive Health", which you might find helpful. It can't help you with pesticide exposure, but there is a lot of other solid information to aid in keeping your colonies alive.

May your remaining colony flourish and soon be ready to split.