Add natural wasp-repellent plants like eucalyptus, spearmint, or thyme around your yard or property. Scare off yellow jackets with a decoy yellow jacket nest; these wasps are unlikely to build a colony on territory that they believe is already taken by another nest.

Large numbers of the wasps may be attracted to garbage cans, sweet beverages, fruit, flowery clothing, and perfume. Yellowjackets rarely cause structural damage to buildings, but they may build their nests in attic and wall voids.

Yellow jackets are far more tolerant of cold weather than bees, but they can't survive a true winter. Yellow jacket workers die after 5-7 days of temperatures 45 degrees Fahrenheit or colder. The new queen, who will create next year's colony, survives by burrowing deep into the ground where she hibernates until spring.

LIke other similar insects, yellow jacket queens live longer than the workers (almost a year longer). Workers tend to live around 22 days. This hierarchical system works because the workers produce food for the colony while the queens eat the food and live longer in order to lay more eggs and produce more workers.