>I presume these are observations you made first hand,<
Yes.
>and not just reports on a more or less anonymous Internet boards?<
Not.
I say appears as I'm not sure if that is the case or not. It could be DWV has become less of an issue. I don't know.
With having so few years with this and few hive numbers I really can't make any claims that this or that is happening for sure.
What I have seen first hand are nucs made up from treated colonies more times than not have wingless bees piled up outside the entrance by October of the same year if not treated again sometime through the year. The last two years I haven't seen the same carnage even with the colonies going into their second winter without treatments. To be clear this does not mean that these second year hives won't be taken out by mites this winter. Most have been in previous years. Next spring could tell a whole new story.
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