bees swarming now?

I happened across a swarm on my farm. I don't keep bees yet myself and am not aware of anyone in my neighborhood who has hives. I actually drove up the driveway as a cloud of bees was moving across it so I stopped and got out to watch. They flew another 50 feet or so then gathered on a branch about a foot off the ground. Does anyone know why they would be swarming now? Are these poor misguided bees doomed?

In New York state? Then they are pretty much doomed. Not enough time before winter to establish a hive and collect enough honey to survive. You could try and combine it with an existing hive.
Very strange that they should swarm - possibly due to some disturbance that caused them to abandon their old hive.

I have no existing hives and couldn't find anyone to come and get them.

I went to check the branch they had swarmed on today and I am pretty sure I saw at least four queens with a few workers (?) climbing around. Most of the swarm of Tuesday was gone. Any guesses as to what happened?

Ok, just talked to my local bee guy (who was out of town when this happened) and he says those are most likely drones I saw, not queens. And he concurred - those bees are doomed. He guessed that some local colony got damaged or threatened somehow which initiated the swarm.