When do the smaller universities usually give out admissions decisions? For example, the ivies have a specific date but most of the smaller colleges websites say that decisions will be out by April 1 2017- but no specific dates are given. Do they give out decisions throughout the month on a rolling basis?
There is no official overall date for when results are released. Some colleges will post when they are going to release, others you can (somewhat) deduce by past years. They do tend to come out in batches through March and into April, Colleges that use rolling admissions will say so upfront.
Patience. They will come 
Every school is different. They usually post on the web sites when the decisions are released.
Good luck.
It varies widely, but I would say you can expect quite a few colleges to release decisions from mid-March on. Some release decisions in batches too.