Are the apples still green? Even if they have frost damage, somebody may still find it a tasty treat especially during these lean winter months - wildlife. The tree would naturally abort which is rare for a healthy tree. I would leave it until Spring.

Goodness, there an awful lot of what look like deep red crabapples still present! Seems like the birds aren't interested for some reason... not sure what to say really, you'd imagine they'd drop off on their own (maybe they have started to with these winds we're having right now). Have you tried picking a few to see how tightly they're holding on? If they come away really easily, they'll likely fall on their own at some point.

Look on the bright side - you have lovely decorative crabs for longer than you expected - just enjoy them. Time will tell.

I have had to remove some from my trees in the past. They were still hanging on to the tree when the buds started to break. And they didn't come off easily either. I still have crabs on most of mine this year too. Especially the 'Red Sentinel', the 'Evereste' and 'Indian Magic'. Oh, and Comptesse de Paris as well. So my advice would be leave them as long as you can for the birds..the blackbirds will be taking them very slowly. And then remove them, but take a pair of snippers as they might not come away easily!

It looks gorgeous btw. :)

Thank you. The apples have been bright red until they were frozen. I wish I'd taken a photo when they were frosted.