Bees aren't the only pollinators. Moths and other winged creatures also pollinate, but bees are generally considered the best because 1. their pollination is the most famous as their flower-hopping work is a key element in the production of honey, and so we learn about that even as kids and 2. bees carry a tiny electrical charge I believe due to the friction of their wings paired with the tiny hairs on their bodies. Therefore, when they land on a flower, they "attract" pollen... they don't necessarily have to stomp all in it like the other insects, who may also to an extent carry a charge but I'm honestly not certain.

The female flowers in my garden here in southern canada are open well into the lunch hour, bright and firmly opened but do curl up and close by dinner time. Bees are at the height of activity during this time. There are more males than females to insure that enough opportunities arise for the bees to pick up pollen, but not pollinate so many female flowers that the plant will become stressed, as producing a fruit is a severe drain on a plants resources. The plant will usually only put out as many females as it can really support developing, which is why they don't simply "spring" up like the males which appear so haphazardly and quite quickly. Over time, as your plant grows, so will the number of females and you will find more and more fertilized squash as your plant has the ability to support maturing them.

As for the fertilizer, I'm not sure which you should use because I don't know what's in your soil. Do some research on soil testing and try to get your soil tested to see what your soil has a lot of, and what it's lacking. The test kit is not expensive and the process is not difficult. Here's a link for you to see how to do it:

http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/soil-testing/

If you're just going to skip that and go get some fert, try to get a 5-10-10 (nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium) and get a slow release if you can and follow the instructions exactly so you don't over feed... but again, since you've already fertilized once and burned the plants, I would see what exactly is in your soil before you add more stuff. I don't know anything about your sweet pumpkins, but they sound good! :)

Thanks for the advice. I did not test the soil but I think I will. I have been mostly unhappy with my yields thus far, definitely room for improvement.

Whatever is visiting my squash flowers, it isn't working. The only ones growing are the ones I polinated myself. I will just have to make it part of my morning to polinate squash.

I meant to say Small Sugar Pumpkins. They are now flowering these tiny flowers about a half an inch long. I don't know what's going on the seed packet doesn't list it as a dwarf plant. I hope it isn't some weird cross polination I won't get any fruit from. Anyone have any experience with these pumpkins?

I use 10 to 1 diluted urine to water my long squash once a week, it is growing pretty well.

For fertilizing soil that has good organic matter and previous years rotted horse manure with a lot of hay in it, I like to scatter and work in some slow release fertilizer like Plant Tone in the planting hill or row and then band some faster release fertilizer around or along the plants. This lasts all season.