I think the bees will do a better job than you can. Bee activity tends to increase as the summer progresses. Bumble bee colonies increase in size for one thing. I remember going out to hand-pollinate one morning and I couldn't get into any of the flowers cuz there was at least one bumble bee in each one. After that I figured, why bother?

Considering that we seem to be losing our pollinators, I say let them have at it.
Paul, I'm having trouble understanding this. Is it that usually you don't have enough pollinators, so you hand pollinate? Do you feel your pollinators don't do a good enough job?

I can relate. I have bees in my garden and my squash seems to not get pollenated if I don't do it. Just recently, there has been one of those massive black bees visiting my flowers and he strips all the pollen off fast. I have never seen him visit a female blossom though. I have to search around for a stamen he hasn't stripped to pollenate my squash. Hopefully, he will tell his buddies so there is more of a chance of things getting pollenated.

I have many honey bees in the yard too but they mostly stay on the redapple and are not interested in the squash.

Ania

That's disconcerting to hear. I wonder what the cause of this strangeness is? Maybe the hybrids aren't as attractive to pollinators??
Just remember though, lots of other insects are great pollinators too.

I've had such a cool and rainy spring and summer, that I wasn't seeing much bee activiy for a while so I was hand pollinating just to get an early harvest of zucchini and squash. I have noticed an increase in pollinator activity as the days get warmer. I had 3 bees per flower today. They looked like honeybees to me. I think I should through in the Q-tip and let them do the job now.